Organizations and Markets

Are Brand Names a Modern Phenomenon?

| Peter Klein |

Not at all, says Gary Richardson, in a new NBER paper, “Brand Names Before the Industrial Revolution.” Branding has long been the target of largely uncomprehending critique from the likes of Veblen, Galbraith and sociologists such as Daniel Bell but its role in maintaining quality and reliability and securing contractual performance is now generally understood. Importantly, shows Gary (my former grad-school classmate), the use of seller-specific markers was widespread even before the Industrial Revolution and played an important role in facilitating the emergence of long-distance trade:

In medieval Europe, manufacturers sold durable goods to anonymous consumers in distant markets, this essay argues, by making products with conspicuous characteristics. Examples of these unique, observable traits included cloth of distinctive colors, fabric with unmistakable weaves, and pewter that resonated at a particular pitch. These attributes identified merchandise because consumers could observe them readily, but counterfeiters could copy them only at great cost, if at all. Conspicuous characteristics fulfilled many of the functions that patents, trademarks, and brand names do today. The words that referred to products with conspicuous characteristics served as brand names in the Middle Ages. Data drawn from an array of industries corroborates this conjecture. The abundance of evidence suggests that conspicuous characteristics played a key role in the expansion of manufacturing before the Industrial Revolution.

See also Gary’s EH.Net Encyclopedia entry on guilds.

3 May 2008 at 10:41 am Peter G. Klein 1 comment