Greif 2006 AERFamily Structure, , Institutionsand Growth and Corporations格瑞夫2006 aerfamily结构、机构、成长和公司 .pdf

Family Structure, Institutions, and Growth: The Origins and Implications of Western Corporations By AVNER GREIF* There is a vast amount of literature that con- for institutions provided in these ways. When siders the importance of the family as an insti- they substitute for kinship groups and provide tution. Little attention, however, has been given social safety nets, corporations complement the to the impact of the family structure and its nuclear family. An individual stands to gain less dynamics on institutions. This limits our ability from belonging to a large kinship group, while to understand distinct institutional develop- the nuclear family structure increases its gains ments—and hence growth—in the past and from membership in such a corporation. present. This paper supports this argument by In tracing the origins of the European corpo- highlighting the importance of the European rations, we focus on their complementarity with family structure in one of the most fundamental the nuclear family. We present the reasons for institutional changes in history and reflects on the decline of kinship groups in medieval its growth-related implications. Europe and why the resulting nuclear family What constituted this change was the emer- structure, along with other factors, led to cor- gence of the economic and political corporations porations. European economic growth in the in late medieval Europe. Corporations are defined late medieval period was based on an unprece- as consistent with their historical meaning: inten- dented institutional complex of corporations tionally created, voluntary, interest-based, and and nuclear families, which, interesting