On 18/07/2009, at 5:33 PM, Richard Baker wrote:
Charlie said:
It originated a long time before Benjy. Traders in the
Mediterranean used a form of insurance to indemnify the trader
against loss if the cargo was stolen, and mutualised risk was used
by Chinese traders (who would spread their cargos across many
vessels to lower the total risk). The Greeks and Romans had
"benevolent societies" which are similar to modern mutuals.
The idea of insurance goes back to at least the Old Babylonian
period in the early second millennium BC. It's such an obvious idea
that it wouldn't surprise me if it's even older than that.
Yeah, that's what I was alluding to with Mediterranean traders.
Guaranteed by Hamurabi (sp?) himself, IIRC.
C.
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