The Evolution of Norms in Trade and Financial Networks in the First Global Age: the case of Simon Ruiz's network

In the 16th century, merchants and bankers gained a social influence and political relevance, due to their capacity of ‘faire travailler l’argent des autres’ (Benassar 1972:50). For the success of their activity, they built evolving networks with cooperative partners. These networks were much more than the sum of all partners. In the case study of the Castilian merchant Simon Ruiz, the network functioned in an unique way and independent from any formal institutional control. Its functioning varied in how different partners were associated and the particular characteristics and contents of these social ties. Being a self-organized network, since the formal institutions of trade regulation and the Crown control didn’t influence the network functioning, the Simon Ruiz network was deeply embedded in the economic and financial performance of the Hispanic Empires, in two different ways. The first, purely commercial. The monopolistic regime which was applied by the two crowns in the trade of certain colonial goods was insufficient to the costs of imperial maintenance. In such manner, particulars tried to rent a contract of exploration of trade, paying an annual sum to the crown, as in the Portuguese trade. Some of these agents also moved along Simon Ruiz’s network. But others were involved in relations with the imperial crowns on a second way, the finance. Maintaining Empires implied a lot of human, technical but also financial means, and most of the times Kings were forced to recur to these merchants, as we will demonstrate. What were the implications of these collaborative relations in both parts? The main goal of this paper is to comprehend the evolution of informal norms within Simon Ruiz’s network and how they influenced cooperative behavior of the agents, particularly analyzing mechanisms of sanctioning, control, punishment and reward, as well as their consequences in different dimensions: future interactions, social repercussions and in agent’s economic health and activity. The research is based in the bills of exchange and commercial correspondence of the private archive of Simon Ruiz, located in the Provincial Archive of Valladollid, Spain.

Escola e comunidade: missão ou miragem no combate ao insucesso e abandono escolares, no período 1997/2007, no Concelho do Alandroal

Este estudo procurou conhecer a realidade do insucesso/abandono escolares no Concelho de Alandroal, no período de 1997-2007, identificando as causas das duas problemáticas e as medidas educativas de resolução, a partir de uma amostra de 41 sujeitos. Pretendemos identificar e caracterizar os episódios de insucesso e abandono escolares protagonizados por um grupo de alunos que iniciaram o seu percurso escolar em 1996/1997, no Concelho de Alandroal. No corpus teórico deste estudo, procedemos à revisão da literatura e à análise de normativos legais que abordam e regulamentam esta temática, de maneira a olhar para ela, de forma reflexiva. Ao nível do corpus empírico, utilizámos uma metodologia quantitativa/qualitativa, no sentido de obtermos o melhor conhecimento e interpretação desta realidade. Os resultados permitem concluir que existe uma relação entre as causas individuais, familiares, escolares e do meio envolvente que levaram ao insucesso e abandono escolares. Sublinhou-se a importância da implementação de medidas educativas adequadas e a sua relação com as instituições do concelho de Alandroal que levaram parte dos sujeitos a concluir o ensino obrigatório com sucesso; ABSTRACT: This study aimed to know the reality of failure / dropping out of school in the Municipality of Alandroal in the period 1997-2007, identifying the causes of both problems and educational measures of resolution, from a sample of 41 subjects. We intend to identify and characterize the episodes of school failure and dropping out staged by a group of students who started their schooling in 1996/1997, Municipality of Alandroal. In the theoretical corpus of this study, we carried out the literature review and analysis of legal norms that regulate and address this issue in order to look at her reflectively. In terms of empirical corpus, we used a method quantitative / qualitative, in order to obtain a better understanding and interpretation of reality. The results indicate that there is a relationship between the causes of individual, family, school and environment that led to failure and early school leaving. It underlined the importance of implementing appropriate educational measures and their relationship with the institutions of the county of Alandroal that led the subjects to complete the compulsory education successfully.