International Merchant Research Articles

Revisiting Indian Rouletted Ware and the impact of Indian Ocean trade in Early Historic south Asia

Indian Rouletted Ware pottery is the iconic marker of the overseas reach of the subcontinent at the turn of the first millennium AD. In the mid twentieth century this was naturally seen as prompted by the contemporary Roman Empire, while the later post-colonial discourse has emphasised the independence and long life of Indian initiatives. In this new analysis the author demonstrates a more complex socio-economic situation. While Greyware is distributed long term over south India, Rouletted ware is made in at least two regional centres for coastal communities using a new ceramic language, one appropriate to an emerging international merchant class.

Book Review: International Merchant Shipping in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: The Comparative Dimension

Book Review: International Merchant Shipping in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: The Comparative Dimension

Etica mercantile e sviluppo economico

- Up to the nineteenth century, merchants extended networks of subsidiaries, correspondents and investments world-wide, becoming a major trigger of innovation and economic development. To guarantee the functioning of their international merchant houses, they had to adhere to a strict moral code. The resulting "moral communities" diffused everywhere the "merchant´s liberty": working to fulfil oneself, striving to obtain economic independence and richness as social recognition. As the Ancien Régime neared its end, merchants were ready to economically and morally guide society into a new era. At the same time as many discussed the noblesse commerçante, though, philosophers and economists ridiculed merchant virtues, transforming merchants in men bent only on profit and self-interest. The industrialist, so, became the bourgeoisie´s myth and merchant ethics vanished from the agenda of historians and economists alike. Industrialization thusly lost one of its main characters and economy missed a catalyst of innovation and social capital formation.

Emissions from international shipping in the Belgian part of the North Sea and the Belgian seaports

The objective of this study is to estimate the atmospheric emissions by international merchant shipping of carbon dioxide (CO 2), sulphur dioxide (SO 2) and nitrogen oxides (NO X ) during 1 year in the Belgian part of the North Sea, including the four Belgian seaports: Antwerp, Ghent, Ostend and Zeebrugge. The estimated emissions are based on a bottom-up, activity-based methodology (Group 1), covering more than 90% of shipping activity, complemented with a top-down fuel consumption methodology for the remaining activities. In total, an estimate of 1880 kton CO 2, 31 kton SO 2 and 39 kton NO X is emitted over the period April 2003 until March 2004. Compared to national inventories (2003 data) this accounts to 1.5% for CO 2, 30% for SO 2 and 22% for NO X of total emissions of these gases in Belgium. When the CO 2 figure is compared with the current estimate of CO 2 emissions from international shipping, based on sold bunker fuels (22 754 kton CO 2), the relevance of a detailed and precise emission inventory becomes clear. In the end, the Belgian estimates are validated by comparing them with Dutch, EU and international emission estimates.

Changing tack: the versatile allegiances of Daniel Nijs. A Netherlandish merchant and information broker in early modern Venice

This article traces the often conflicting roles and changing fortunes of Daniel Nijs (1572–1647) in order to investigate the strategies used by immigrant merchants operating in early-modern Europe. Born in Germany as the son of religious exiles from the Southern Netherlands, Nijs moved to Venice to become a trader. A renowned collector himself, he was instrumental in the sale of the Mantuan Gonzaga art-collection to Charles I. But this was only one of his many ventures: besides his activities as an international merchant, Nijs also controlled one of Venice's customhouses, acted as post-master between the Serenissima and the Dutch Republic and became consul for Sweden. In addition, he financially contributed to Venice's war efforts against the Austrian Habsburgs and opened his Venetian home to Calvinist services. He embarked on yet another course of action when he was recruited as a spy by the Spanish ambassador, preparing a conspiracy against the Venetian Republic. This entrepreneur constantly juggled different allegiances, showing a remarkable strategic adaptability in the complex arena of early-modern international trade, politics, religion and culture. His access to goods, information and artefacts made him the epitome of an intermediary. An analysis of his professional practices and ramified network of contacts will show how the early-modern immigrant merchant manoeuvred between conflicting and malleable national, cultural and religious identities.

Working overseas: Seafarers' remittances and their distribution in Kiribati

: Remittances sent home by seafarers employed on international merchant and fishing ships are a significant income component for the Kiribati economy, with immediate benefits for families and communities. This paper explores the strategies used and the amounts sent by seafarers to their family members by drawing on different data sets, such as remittances data kept in the form of allotment lists by employment agencies, and comparing these with interview responses from seafarers and their families. Remittances are spread throughout extended families and communities firstly via direct allotments sent to individual bank accounts, and secondly through channels of family and community obligations. This paper shows that the general flow of seafarers’ remittances into Kiribati is continuous and has increased over the years with more people engaged in seafaring employment. Families, however, were found to be dependent on individual decisions made by seafarers of how to share their remittances. Kiribati has no institutionalised social welfare system, and as a consequence remittances function as a private safety net for seafarer families.

Technological change and the age–earnings profile: Evidence from the International Merchant Marine, 1861–1912

Models of vintage-specific learning predict systematic cross-technology differences in earnings among otherwise identical employees. This paper outlines a vintage learning model based on Chari and Hopenhayn's (1991, Journal of Political Economy) exposition. The model predicts that (i) the age–earnings profile is steeper in new technologies, (ii) the discounted present value of lifetime earnings are equalized across technologies, and (iii) the age–earnings profile in newer technologies becomes flatter over time. These predictions find support from a data set spanning a 52-year period beginning in 1861 that matches over 141,000 wage contracts accepted by merchant mariners to the technologies with which they worked. As a by-product, the paper reports some of the oldest evidence yet made available of the returns to literacy.

George Peabody: A Biography (review)

BOOK REVIEWS359 graduates liked his lectures, eccentric manners, and failure to challenge their southern assumptions, the reader is inclined to agree. Bertram Wyatt Brown Case Western Reserve University George Peabody: A Biography. By Franklin Parker. (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971. Pp. x, 233. $8.95.) Franklin Parker, professor of education at West Virginia University, has produced a biography of the international merchant, financier and philanthropist, George Peabody, which partially fills the void left by Phebe Ann Hanaford's 1870 study. In 187 pages and twenty-four brief chapters, the reader learns many facts but few insights about Peabody 's career. Originally from Danvers, Massachusetts, Peabody was self-supporting at seventeen, and by twenty-two had accumulated assets of between $40,000 and $50,000 from a dry goods business in Baltimore and Georgetown. Ten years later he was worth $85,000. He moved his business activities to London in 1837, and that city became his permanent home. In 1843 he gave up the dry goods business to become a full-time merchant and investment banker, specializing in foreign exchange and American securities. Peabody "was a shrewd judge of men, he had great integrity, and he was trusted in the business world. . . . The Baltimore merchant had become a man to reckon with in international finance (p. 38)." In 1854 Peabody entered into a partnership with another American, Junius Spencer Morgan (father of John Pierpont), and his fortune continued to increase, making him a multimillionaire by the time of his death in 1869. Peabody is most remembered for his many charities and philanthropies, most of which were established when he was over fifty years of age. The bachelor philanthropist's largest donations included $2,500,000 to construct model housing for workers in London and $2,000,000 to the Peabody Education Fund for promotion of public education in the South. His contributions to his nephew, Othniel Marsh, and to Yale University enabled Marsh to become one of America's leading paleontologists. This volume must be faulted in two respects. First, it is a cursory account which rarely goes into any significant depth on any subject. Most lacking is substantive information and analysis of how Peabody made his money, especially as an investment broker. The reader learns many details about Peabody's philanthropies, but virtually nothing about how he made the money to finance them. Parker has failed to produce a concluding chapter, and one is badly needed. The other major problem is the total absence of footnotes. The reduction of publication costs in omitting these was probably offset by the curious inclusion of both a bibliographic essay for each chapter and a complete bibliographic list. The book contains many quotations, 360civil war history most of which need footnote references. However, the appendix, with its list of George Peabody's gifts and legacies, is most helpful. William P. Vaughn North Texas State University The Life and Times of Joseph Fish, Mormon Pioneer. Edited by John H. Krenkel. (Danville, 111.: Interstate Printers and Publishers, 1970. Pp. 543. $7.00.) Joseph Fish was born in 1840 near Joliet, Illinois, to parents who followed the ups and downs of the Mormon Church from the halcyon days at Nauvoo to the death of the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, through the harrowing nightmare of the migration to Utah, and the hard life of breaking the backs of the harsh Western environment and the aborigines. Joseph Fish embraced Mormonism with a fervor that carried him through the persecutions in Illinois, the hardships of transcontinental travel, colonization, and legal prosecution for practicing polygamy. After a life of hard work and a series of setbacks almost reminiscent of Jude, the Obscure, Mr. Fish retired to Enterprise, Utah, to write history. Poor, but unbroken in spirit, he wrote "The Pioneers of the Rocky Mountain Region," a "History of Arizona," "The Life and Times of Joseph Fish," and completed his journal in longhand, covering nearly seventy years on the frontier. This book has diary entries from the late 1850's to 1924. A man of great integrity and ability, he related the events in his lifetime—trivial and important—with clarity and openness. Mr. Fish, being a member of what we would...