The Design of Debt-Clearing Markets: Clearinghouse Mechanisms in Preindustrial Europe
研究了13至18世纪欧洲使用的分散化清算所机制，特别是针对不可交易或有限交易债务（如汇票）的清算，构建理论模型并分析其历史效率与稳健性。
We examine the evolution of the decentralized clearinghouse mechanisms that were in use throughout Europe from the thirteenth century to the eighteenth century; in particular, we explore the clearing of nontradable or limited-tradable debts such as bills of exchange. We construct a theoretical model of these clearinghouse mechanisms and show that the specific decentralized multilateral clearing algorithms known as rescontre, skontrieren, or virement des parties, used by merchants in this period, were efficient in specific historical contexts. Our analysis contributes to the understanding of these mechanisms during late medieval and early modern fairs and their robustness during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.