Ragusan trade diaspora and the commerce of grain in sixteenth century: A network-institutional approach
研究了十六世纪拉古萨共和国侨民在地中海港口从事谷物贸易，采用网络-制度方法分析其作为贸易网络侨民的角色，以及如何传播商业实践并成为社会文化遗产。
During the sixteenth century, small diasporic communities of businessmen of Ragusa Republic settled in some Mediterranean ports. These communities were made up of commercial agents, merchants and seamen who, using the detailed information system of the motherland and relying on the Republic’s fleet, were engaged in the trade of grain. This study expands previous analysis of Mediterranean Ragusan trade considering it as a trade network diaspora and investigating it in this perspective. In particular, using a network-institutional approach, the role of the Ragusan diaspora in grain trade has been analysed as an instrument of diffusion of the merchant practices in commerce, shipping and finance which have thus become as a cultural heritage of the Ragusa society. The environmental and social pressures conditioned the activity of the merchants and shaped its role as mediators of social capital in support of the economic activity of the motherland.