Networks, Institutions, and Uncertainty: Information Exchange in Early-Modern Markets
分析了英国东印度公司船长之间的非正式信息交换模式，发现不确定性促进了信息交换，而制度强度增强反而降低了信息交换频率，表明机会和需求比正式或非正式治理系统更重要。
We analyze patterns of informal information exchange by the English East India Company’s captains to assess the role of relational and institutional governance systems and uncertainty in encouraging information exchange. Using archival data from the emerging early-modern global trade network, we show that uncertainty drove information exchange. Relational-based contract enforcement mechanisms such as small group exchange were largely absent, and increasing institutional strength was associated with decreasing rates of information exchange. The results suggest that opportunity and demand were more important determinants of information exchange than the emergence of formal and informal governance systems.