Information and Reputation in the 17th Century: Establishing Trust in the Social Networks of Portuguese Businessmen

<p>This paper examines the role played by diverse social and cultural practices in the establishment of interpersonal trust during the Early Modern period. Based on qualitative analysis of social interactions within the ego-centered networks of five Portuguese businessmen living in Madrid during the 17th Century, studied thanks to their epistolary correspondence. Letters allow historians to assess the role of the transmission of information and diverse cultural values in forging trust. Moreover, they also document the crucial importance of personal reputation as a form of subjective valuation of the aptitudes of economic actors, and how these assessments were produced thanks to epistolary interactions. Finally, attention is drawn to how reputations served as a means of selecting and recruiting agents.</p>

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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