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Informal rural credit markets and interlinked transactions in the district of late Ottoman Haifa, 1890–1915

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2014

Stefania Ecchia
Stefania Ecchia*
Affiliation:
Università di Salerno
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Abstract

By examining the acts of the Public Notary of Haifa (1890–1915), this article shows that it was the traditional informal market of credit, run by local notables, which financially supported the development of the small-landholding-based agricultural sector of the Haifa district in late Ottoman Palestine. In seeking to ascertain what led to the success of the informal rural credit market as compared with the formal credit market, the article finds that the local notables, who acted as financial intermediaries for small landholders, enjoyed an information advantage over the banks stemming from the establishment of interlinked credit market transactions connected to the stipulation of bay' wafā, salam and muzara‘ah contracts. In a context of land privatisation and growing commercialisation of agriculture, these contracts became the instruments used by notables to invest in peasants' landholdings and to manage a sales network for agricultural products on a local and international scale, hence representing an efficient financial institution to support the ‘agricultural export-led growth’ of late Ottoman Palestine.

Keywords

Ottoman Palestineinformal rural credit marketOttoman agricultural sector

JEL classification

Q15: Land Ownership and Tenure • Land Reform • Land Use • Irrigation • Agriculture and Environment N2: Financial Markets and Institutions Q14: Agricultural Finance G2: Financial Institutions and Services N20: General, International, or Comparative
Type
Articles
Information
Financial History Review , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , April 2014 , pp. 5 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Banking and Financial History e.V. 2014 

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References

Primary sources

Israel State Archives, Public Notary of Haifa, registries:

1890–1891/1306–1307, 7565-2456/33.1

1895–1896/1311-1307, 7565-2456/33.1

1896–1898/1312–1314, 7565-2456/33.1

1904–1906/1320–1322, 7566-2456/33.1

1906–1908/1322–1324, 7566-2456, 33.1

1908–1910/1324–1326, 7567-2457/33.1

1910/1326, 7567-2457/33.1

1910–1911/1326–1327, 7567-2457/33.1

1911–1912/1327–1328, 7568-2457/33.1

1912–1913/1328–1329, 7568-245/33.1

1913–1914/1329–1330, 7568-2457/33.1

1914–1915/1330–1331, 7569-2458/33.1

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