Financing Trade through Limited Partnerships: Evidence from Silk Firms in Eighteenth-Century Trentino

The author investigates the role of limited partnerships (accomandite) in the financing of early modern trade by focusing on the case of silk firms in eighteenth-century Trentino. Although limited partnerships were not governed by specific regulation, nor qualified as ‘accomandite’ in private and public documents, direct evidence from few partnership agreements combined with indirect evidence from the oblatorie (circular letters) filed with the Merchant Court in Bolzano, support the contention that limited partnerships played an important role in mobilizing capital to finance a rapidly-expanding trade. This study thus confirms that limited partnerships facilitated investment by affluent individuals, particularly patricians, who benefitted as limited partners from the opportunity to constrain their risk within the limits of their stake.