IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/revaec/v33y2020i3d10.1007_s11138-018-0429-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The crucial role of financial intermediaries for facilitating trade among strangers

Author

Listed:
  • Edward Peter Stringham

    (Davis Professor of Economic Organizations and Innovation
    American Institute for Economic Research)

  • J. R. Clark

    (The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Probasco Distinguished Chair of Free Enterprise)

Abstract

How are markets possible under conditions of anonymity and lack of repeat dealing? Many scholars consider the problem of fraud as one that must be dealt with by law, but electronic commerce firms treat the problem of online fraud as a business problem, a problem of risk management. This article documents how merchants and financial intermediaries treat fraud as a cost that can be quantified and then minimized. Just as entrepreneurs earn profits by helping meet a previously unmet market demand, entrepreneurs earn profits by helping reduce what could have been considered an unsolved legal problem. Firms have profited by using predictive analytics and various if-then algorithms to help mitigate what might otherwise be an intractable problem and help vastly expand the scope of commerce.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward Peter Stringham & J. R. Clark, 2020. "The crucial role of financial intermediaries for facilitating trade among strangers," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 349-361, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:33:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11138-018-0429-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11138-018-0429-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11138-018-0429-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11138-018-0429-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Boettke, Peter J. & Coyne, Christopher J., 2009. "Context Matters: Institutions and Entrepreneurship," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 5(3), pages 135-209, March.
    2. Jessica Livingston, 2008. "Founders at Work," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-1-4302-1077-1, June.
    3. M. Martin Boyer, 2007. "Resistance (to Fraud) Is Futile," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 74(2), pages 461-492, June.
    4. Stringham, Edward Peter, 2015. "Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199365166.
    5. Stringham, Edward, 2003. "The extralegal development of securities trading in seventeenth-century Amsterdam," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 321-344.
    6. Benjamin Powell & Cortney Stephen Rodet, 2012. "Praise and Profits: Cultural and Institutional Determinants of Entrepreneurship," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 27(Spring 20), pages 19-42.
    7. Yuanfeng Cai & Dan Zhu, 2016. "Fraud detections for online businesses: a perspective from blockchain technology," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 2(1), pages 1-10, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peter C. Earle & Max Gulker & Edward P. Stringham, 2022. "Decentralized Marketplaces with Privately Enforced Contracts: A Case Study of OpenBazaar," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 37(Winter 20), pages 43-59.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrew Young, 2015. "From Caesar to Tacitus: changes in early Germanic governance circa 50 BC-50 AD," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 357-378, September.
    2. Edward Peter Stringham, 2017. "The fable of the leeches, or: The single most unrealistic positive assumption of most economists," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 30(4), pages 401-413, December.
    3. Darcy W.E. Allen, 2019. "Governing the entrepreneurial discovery of blockchain applications," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(2), pages 194-212, October.
    4. Philip T. Roundy & Michaël Bonnal, 2017. "The Singularity of Social Entrepreneurship: Untangling its Uniqueness and Market Function," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 26(2), pages 137-162, September.
    5. Rosolino A. Candela & Vincent J. Geloso, 2021. "Trade or raid: Acadian settlers and native Americans before 1755," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 549-575, September.
    6. R. Hafer & Garett Jones, 2015. "Are entrepreneurship and cognitive skills related? Some international evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 283-298, February.
    7. Rohac Dalibor, 2017. "Classical Liberals and Foreign Policy: Time for a Rethink?," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 23(1), pages 1-19, July.
    8. Coyne,Christopher J., 2020. "Defense, Peace, and War Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108724036, January.
    9. Rosolino A. Candela & Vincent Geloso, 2019. "Coase and transaction costs reconsidered: the case of the English lighthouse system," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 331-349, December.
    10. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan, 2010. "Firm Growth, Institutions and Structural Transformation," Ratio Working Papers 150, The Ratio Institute.
    11. Castaño, María-Soledad & Méndez, María-Teresa & Galindo, Miguel-Ángel, 2015. "The effect of social, cultural, and economic factors on entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1496-1500.
    12. Elert, Niklas & Henrekson, Magnus, 2017. "Entrepreneurship and Institutions: A Bidirectional Relationship," Working Paper Series 1153, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 05 May 2017.
    13. Allen, Darcy W.E. & Berg, Chris & Markey-Towler, Brendan & Novak, Mikayla & Potts, Jason, 2020. "Blockchain and the evolution of institutional technologies: Implications for innovation policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    14. Bryan Caplan & Edward Stringham, 2003. "Networks, Law, and the Paradox of Cooperation," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 16(4), pages 309-326, December.
    15. Ali, Abdul & Kelley, Donna J. & Levie, Jonathan, 2020. "Market-driven entrepreneurship and institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 117-128.
    16. Ferreira, Joao J. & Fernandes, Cristina I. & Veiga, Pedro Mota & Caputo, Andrea, 2022. "The interactions of entrepreneurial attitudes, abilities and aspirations in the (twin) environmental and digital transitions? A dynamic panel data approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    17. Kryeziu Liridon & Coşkun Recai, 2018. "Political and Economic Institutions and Economic Performance: Evidence from Kosovo," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 13(2), pages 84-99, December.
    18. Peter Leeson, 2014. "Pirates, prisoners, and preliterates: anarchic context and the private enforcement of law," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 365-379, June.
    19. Maria Eug?nia Mata & Jos? Rodrigues da Costa & David Justino, 2018. "Finance, a New Old Science," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(2), pages 75-93.
    20. Niklas Elert & Magnus Henrekson, 2019. "The collaborative innovation bloc: A new mission for Austrian economics," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 295-320, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation; Fraud prevention; Payment processing; Credit cards; Predictive analytics; Blockchain; Smart contracts;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • N20 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • P17 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Performance and Prospects

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:33:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11138-018-0429-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.