Jake Dyble, "Managing Maritime Risk in Early Modern Europe: General Average in Law and Practice in Seventeenth-Century Tuscany" (Boydell Press, 2025)

About this episode

Dr. Jake Dyble discusses the concept of General Average and its role in maritime risk management during the seventeenth century in Tuscany.

Commercial seafaring, both dangerous and with large amounts of capital at stake, was the source of the risk-management institutions that still undergird the global economy today. A key institution of early modern risk management was General Average, a procedure used to redistribute extraordinary costs arising from a maritime venture between all financially interested parties. For example, should one merchant’s cargo be jettisoned to lighten a ship in a storm, the loss would be shared pro rata by the shipper and all the cargo-owners. A risk-sharing practice, different from the risk-shifting of marine insurance which became established relatively late, General Average is still in widespread use. In Managing Maritime Risk in Early Modern Europe: General Average in Law and Practice in Seventeenth-Century Tuscany (Boydell Press, 2025), Jake Dyble explores how General Average worked. It reveals the gap between General Average in law and how it worked on the ground. It shows how General Average partitioned a wide array of business costs, thereby performing a significant role in structuring maritime commerce, managing risk and promoting shipping and trade. In addition, the book discusses…

People in this episode

Guest: Jake Dyble

Topics covered

• maritime risk management
• General Average
• seventeenth-century Tuscany
• economic development
• maritime commerce
• risk-sharing practices

Keywords

• General Average
• maritime risk
• seafaring
• economic institutions
• Tuscany
• shipping
• trade

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Padova, Boydell Press

Books & works: Managing Maritime Risk in Early Modern Europe: General Average in Law and Practice in Seventeenth-Century Tuscany

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