Stateless Commerce: The Diamond Network and the Persistence of Relational Exchange
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.13 (944 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0674972171 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-11-28 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Through the eternally fascinating lens of the diamond trade, Richman explores the potential, and the shortcomings, of stateless commerce. (Robert C. Ellickson, Yale Law School) . A solid synthesis and weighty contribution
Richman is Edgar P. Bartlett Professor of Law and Business Administration at Duke University School of Law. and Elizabeth C. Barak D.
Far from being an anachronism, 47th Street’s ethnic enclave is an adaptive response to the unique pressures of the diamond industry.Ethnic trading networks survive because they better fulfill many functions usually performed by state institutions. In Stateless Commerce, Barak Richman uses the colorful case study of the diamond industry to explore how ethnic trading networks operate and why they persist in the twenty-first century. While the modern world rests heavily on lawyers, courts, and state coercion, ethnic merchants regularly sell goods and services by relying solely on familiarity, trust, and community enforcementwhat economists call “relational exchange.” These commercial networks insulate themselves from the outside world because the outside world cannot provide those assurances.Extending the framework of transactional cost and organizational economics, Stateless Commerce draws on rare insider interviews to explain why personal exchange succeeds, even as most global trade succumbs to the forces of modernization, and what it reveals abo