Abstract
Using data for proxying economic activity, we confirm historical consensus that the medieval Republic of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) was a prosperous small open economy, rivaling bigger competitors like Venice. More tentatively, we test a number of hypotheses on the determinants of success, finding partial evidence that Ragusa had strong fundamentals with prudent finances, effective rule of law, good governance, social fairness, business-friendly institutions, and trade openness. Ragusa may be an early example of a ‘Tiger’ economy with growth-promoting institutions. Future research should test the ‘resilience hypothesis’ that such economies are best able to deal with external shocks.
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Notes
Webster's Dictionary, NY, 2003 gives: ‘Argosy: A large merchant ship especially one with a rich cargo [1570−1580]; earlier Ragusy, Italian=Ragusea, a ship of Ragusa’.
For some, any use of data in historical analysis is a form of cliometrics (from Clio, the muse of history, and metrics meaning measuring). We do not have enough time series to run regressions, but do show the possibilities of working in the mode of the new economic history, exemplified by the work of North, Fogel, and Temin; Ravancic (2010) gives a succinct review.
Numerous recent work exists on this – an illustrative paper is Ghosh et al. (2009).
Postan and Rich (1952, p. 340) wrote of the 14th century: ‘It was not one world yet, but there was a sensitive world market and it reacted quickly to crises in distant countries’. Cipolla (1987) describes for Florence the 14th century ‘excess’ credit boom followed by a policy-induced credit squeeze − very like modern boom−bust cycles.
We have collected all of the available data points from the references and then used linear interpolation to obtain new data points, with about one observation every 25 years. At times we had to interpolate only between the neighboring 50 years, and at times we had to interpolate for a broader data range. Details are in the Appendix tables to Havrylyshyn and Srzentic (2012).
A fourth is the much narrower but extremely novel socioeconomic exercise by Ravancic (2010) using archival data on court cases related to tavern disputes and finding that they are highest on weekends and during off-season! The study by Lonza (2002) contains many data on criminal court procedures, of potential value in future research on the quality of legal institutions, analogous to indicators in the World bank's Doing Business reports.
Krekić (1997, p. 193): Well-paid sailors could earn a few hundred ducats yearly, captains 3 to 4 times as much.
Reference given by Basic (2006, p. 152).
Havrylyshyn and Srzentic (2012) discuss these claims.
Kuncevic (2010) elaborates on the reality and myth of LIBERTAS.
‘Relative’ is the operative word here: in the second section we show data suggesting that absolute level of economic activity might have been still very large.
This lends truth to the assertion by Luetic (1969, p. 107): ‘the French occupation…overthrew the 1,000 year historical thread of Dubrovnik's sea-based livelihood, and destroyed the significance of Dubrovnik as a world-class maritime power’.
In fact most historians do not give special importance to this period, with the possible exception of Stuard (1975, 1992); we take the liberty to make it a more explicit hypothesis than she does in her many works on this period.
The rationale is explained in Havrylyshyn and Srzentic (2012).
This may underestimate the number in later periods as it shows only buildings within the city walls, and territorial expansion over time likely meant more major building projects outside as well.
Several works of Stuard imply such a thesis – we suggest it be made explicit in the literature. Those who have studied the Industrial Revolution will recall the later partial revision of economic history showing that it was preceded and made possible by an earlier agricultural revolution and attendant growth.
The work by Carter (1972, p. 53) is based on the writing of the Byzantine Porphyrogenitos − although Carter warns in many places that such early writings are uncertain.
Often the location names define the mineral: for example, Srebrenica for silver, Olovo for lead, but Rudnik simply means mine.
Luetic (1969), and Nicetic (2002) all emphasize the constant expansion of capacity over this period.
Efforts to subsidize textiles eventually failed, as elaborated in Havrylyshyn and Srzentic (2012).
Havrylyshyn and Srzentic (2012) cite numerous such references.
This is also reflected in the work of Fernand Braudel who writes of Ragusa's ability to ‘snatch away goods from under the eyes of Venetian merchants’ as cited in Stuard (1992).
Some historians claim that, before the mid-16th century, Ragusa's fleet exceeded that of England; we were unable to find hard evidence before 1575.
Arguably, the lack of a large and fertile hinterland should not matter, as resources can be imported. But in a medieval period, with many episodes of famine, states often forbade food exports; with long travel times, size mattered. Larger size also provided a labor force: sailors, soldiers, chandlers. Venice was in this sense far better endowed than Dubrovnik.
Several articles in Filipovic and Partridge (1977) discuss this, including Luetic, Filipovic, and Zivojinovic.
Luetic (1969) and other fleet estimates generally agree on this.
Stipetic (2004) shows a modest increase from 1550 to 1575, followed by a decline. But later values in Figure 4(a) are based on vaguer estimates: he gives only values for all of Dalmatia; we assume earlier proportions – which may be incorrect.
Vekaric (2011), Vol. 1, shows in Table 7 the roots of the noble families and it is clear that a large proportion were not from Epidaurus.
Another striking statistic suggesting upward mobility is in Luetic (1969, p. 101): by the mid-18th century, of 380 registered shipowners only 80 were nobles.
Lonza (1997) uses a quantitative review of 2,440 court cases to demonstrate effective implementation. Incidentally, many cases were settled out of court, a practice that authorities encouraged. Lonza (2002) gives further quantification of judicial effectiveness.
Vekaric (2006) describes a major exception – the short-lived and futile rebellion by Lastovo nobles.
Stipetic (2000) refers to non-Croatian scholars Postma and van der Helm – presumably less biased − and have found clear evidence that Kotruljevic was the first to develop double-entry book-keeping, well before the 1496 work of Venetian Lucca Paccioli. A personal communication from van der Helm clarifies that Kotruljevic/Cotrugli did write briefly about double-entry, in his unpublished work, but a first printed manual was indeed that of Paccioli.
Bojovic (1998, p. 114) cites numerous similar cases.
The ‘Bara Bettera Memoirs’ on which there is some dispute among specialists today; table in Bjelovucic must have a transcription error as the total exceeds the sum of expense components by 30% (Havrylyshyn and Srzentic, 2012). Note how this could be adjusted to calculate probable proportions.
See Allen−Unger Global Commodity Prices database at Oxford and UBC (www.history.ubcca/faculty/unger/ECPdb/about.html).
http://numismatica-italiana.lamoneta.it/ explains the derivation of the word ‘zecca’, which apparently comes from the Arabian word with pronunciation ‘sikka’= ‘coinage’.
Fratianni and Spinelli, 2006 (in European Review of Economic History, 10, p. 260).
Carter (1972, p. 172) and Kurtovic (2010); a good example of the advantage of the Slavic character of Ragusa.
The implication may be that other states undertook minimal education expenditures; but this requires future research.
This section is based to a large extent on the comprehensive analyses of Carter (1972) and Berkovic (2010).
Lane (1973) estimates Venice's war fleets at about 100.
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Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Frank Lewis, Susan Mosher-Stuard, and Nenad Vekaric, as well as two anonymous referees and participants of the 18th DEC, for their encouragement and suggestions. The Croatian National Bank has been kind in allowing us to participate in the annual Dubrovnik Economic Conference, and we admit that the views from the Conference venue of Ragusa's majestic city walls were an important part of our inspiration. Nora Srzentic acknowledges support from the Fund for Scientific Research (Flanders).
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Havrylyshyn, O., Srzentic, N. Economy of Ragusa, 1300–1800: The Tiger of Medieval Mediterranean. Comp Econ Stud 55, 201–231 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/ces.2013.14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ces.2013.14