ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: A Comparison of Just Price Discussions in an Age of Transformation: The Ottoman, Spanish and British Cases (joint paper with Seven Agir)
Author:
This study aims to compare the notions of social justice and to what extent they determined the rules governing economic relations in Ottoman, Spanish and British contexts at a period of institutional and ideological transformation (18th century). Our investigation is limited to the theory and practice of price-setting in all three countries. Examining those ideas related with price in the most prominent political writers’ treatises in each country, we aim to explore the similar and different ideological and institutional elements that informed the debates in this period where there were common attempts to liberate domestic trade in certain commodities and a corresponding reformulation of price-setting mechanisms. To this end, we intend to answer the following question: What was conceived as “just” price for the reformers and how their conceptions were different from their antecedents? From our preliminary readings, we expect that the answer to this question will reveal a discussion regarding the contrasts between notions of justice vs. fairness, private vs. public interest, distributive vs. commutative understanding of justice in our sources. A cross-cultural comparison of these parallel contrasts, placed in the institutional framework and the social environment, will allow us to reveal the common and distinct grounds of economic thinking among our cases.
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