The Commercial Network of the Silva Milheiros Brothers´ Company

Abstract

This work has two main goals. First, to improve our understanding of the Portuguese business world at the turn of the nineteenth century, and second, to shed light concerning the agency problem and the mechanisms for controingl agents. As a case study, I analyse the correspondence of a small merchant house at the end of the Ancien Regime. This house was owned by two brothers, José Francisco and António Tomás da Silva Milheiros. Their business was mostly based on imports of goods from Europe, and they were headquartered in Lisbon.

I try to understand how did the business work, the reach of the house’s networks, and the agent control mechanism utilised by the brothers.