The dark side of agglomeration, sustained wealth and transposition of trading institutions—the case of Bordeaux in the 18th and 19th centuries
研究了18-19世纪波尔多商人家庭在奴隶贸易和葡萄酒贸易中建立持久财富的过程，发现两种贸易中的关键制度（如产品质量定义、产品分类和定价方式）高度相似，这帮助他们在奴隶制废除后顺利转向葡萄酒贸易，揭示了集聚经济的阴暗面。
The present paper explores a historical case of a location where a group of merchant families established powerful positions over many generations, involving both the international trade of fine wine and human beings sold as slaves. These families lived in Bordeaux, one of the largest trading centers for trade of enslaved humans in the world in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These trading families were concentrated in a few quarters of the city, and most of the leading merchants were active in both lines of trade. More importantly, this paper shows that three of the key trading institutions, namely practices defining ‘product quality’, product classes and how prices were set, were remarkably similar in both fields of trade. This, in turn, facilitated a smooth and successful substitution of trade from enslaved humans into fine wine when abolition was imposed in the early 1800s. Overall, a story of the darker side of agglomerations is revealed. This study facilitates a new theoretical understanding of how wealth and prosperity can be secured over long time periods, through transposition of institutions between fields, and driven by forces of proximity.