 Lloyd’s People: Their Social Composition and Political EconomyRobin Pearson ()
Chapter Chapter 3 in Delusions of Competence, 2022, pp 19-32 from Palgrave Macmillan Abstract: Abstract There was a strange duality about Lloyd’s in the twentieth century. On the one hand, it demonstrated an impressive capacity for product innovation and underwriting flexibility. On the other hand, Lloyd’s was also widely regarded as an elitist old boys’ club with arcane rules and opaque practices. An analysis of the social composition of Lloyd’s, and the political and economic outlook of its working members and leaders, reveals its hierarchical and highly conservative character. There was a tradition of informal learning on the job and a disdain for formal education that proved hard to change. It was believed that competence should not be subject to external regulation or monitoring, but should only be assessed by the practitioners themselves. Self-regulation, freedom of trade and non-interference in the independence of underwriters and brokers were the core principles of Lloyd’s and defended to the hilt. Keywords: Lloyd’s of London; Financial innovation; Public schools; Social elites; Self-regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palscp:978-3-030-94088-1_3 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-94088-1_3 Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Palgrave Studies in Economic History from Palgrave Macmillan |
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