Co-development of Economic, Civic, and Kinship Networks

本项目通过研究基于亲属关系、经济和公民联系的社交网络的变化和重新组合来考察新的组织形式的出现。 这项研究的重点是社交网络作为其他机构的基础，并收集了一个特定历史案例的异常详细的数据，该案例产生了大量的组织新奇和发明，影响了西方文明的发展。本研究延续了研究者的研究轨迹，其中以前对意大利佛罗伦萨的研究结果已被推广并应用于分析不同的病例。 具体而言，过去的研究已被用于产生更好的理解资本主义在欧洲的崛起，共产主义在二十世纪的转变，和硅谷的生物技术产业。该项目的一个主要成果将是完成并公开发布一个关于约70 000名公民中不断变化的经济、公民和亲属网络的关系数据库。这将进一步推广到现代和不同的情况下。“组织新奇的出现”，本研究的主题，具有广泛的相关性。佛罗伦萨的经济在面对冲击、战争、瘟疫和社会叛乱时表现出了非凡的弹性。在这段时间里，佛罗伦萨的工业从羊毛制造业转向国际银行业（这是他们非凡财富和文化赞助的经济基础），再到丝绸生产。同样，佛罗伦萨的政府和民间机构也非常有创造力和灵活性。许多代表制的宪政制度已经被实验过，从民主到寡头再到实际上的中央集权。通过研究这些具体案例，本研究将有助于回答宏观经济、公民和政府的灵活性和复原力的广泛问题。这项研究的结果使理论发展能够应用于类似的现代条件。增加和改善关于（容易看到的）制度秩序和（很难看到的）社会网络基础之间因果关系的一般知识，有可能在这个特定的案例研究之外得到广泛的应用。

This project examines the emergence of novel organizational forms by studying changes in and re-combinations of social networks that are based on kinship, economic, and civic linkages. The research focuses on social networks as foundations for other institutions and collects unusually detailed data on a specific historical case that produced organizational novelty and inventions so prolifically that it influenced the development of western civilization. This study continues a trajectory of research by the investigator in which previous findings from research on Florence Italy have been generalized and applied to analyses diverse cases. Specifically, this past research has been used in generating better understandings of the rise of capitalism in Europe, the transformation of Communism in the twentieth century, and the biotechnology industry in Silicon Valley. A central outcome of this project will be the completion and public release of a relational data base on changing economic, civic, and kinship networks among about 70,000 citizens. This will be further generalizable to modern and diverse cases.The "emergence of organization novelty," the subject of this research, has broad relevance. The Florentine economy has been exceptionally resilient in the face of shocks, wars, plagues, and social revolts. Florentine industry shifted from wool-manufacturing, to international banking (the economic foundation of their extraordinary wealth and cultural patronage), to silk production during this time frame. Similarly, Florentine governmental and civic institutions were remarkably inventive and flexible. Many constitutional systems of representation have been experimented with, ranging from democratic to oligarchical to centralized in effect. By studying these specific cases, this research will contribute to answering the broad general question of what makes macroeconomic, civic and governmental flexibility and resilience. The findings from this research enable theoretical development that can be applied to similar modern conditions. Increasing and improving general knowledge about causal interrelationships between (easily visible) institutional order and (hard to see) social-network foundations has potential for wide application beyond this particular case study.