Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/287936 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Citation: 
[Journal:] International Economic Review [ISSN:] 1468-2354 [Volume:] 64 [Issue:] 1 [Publisher:] Wiley [Place:] Hoboken, NJ [Year:] 2022 [Pages:] 23-56
Publisher: 
Wiley, Hoboken, NJ
Abstract: 
We study the regulation of brokerage in wholesale markets in premodern Central Western Europe. Examining 1,804 sets of rules from 82 cities, we find brokerage was primarily a centralized matchmaking mechanism. Brokerage was more common in towns with larger populations, better access to sea ports and trade routes, and greater political autonomy. Brokers' fee structures varied systematically: price‐based fees were more common for highly heterogeneous goods, quantity‐based fees for more homogeneous goods. We show theoretically that this was broadly consistent with total surplus maximization, and that brokerage was more valuable in markets with unequal numbers of buyers and sellers.
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
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Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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