Editing Commercial revolution (section)

====Joint stock companies and stock exchanges====
[[Image:Royal Exchange 1760.jpg|thumb|Plan of the London Royal Exchange in 1760]]
[[Stock exchange]]s were developed as the volume of stock transactions increased.  The London [[Royal Exchange (London)|Royal Exchange]] established in 1565 first developed as a securities market, though by 1801 it had become a stock exchange.<ref name="isbn0-19-829508-1"/>

Historian [[Fernand Braudel]] suggests that in [[Cairo]] in the 11th-century Muslim and Jewish merchants had already set up every form of [[trade association]] and had knowledge of every method of credit and payment, disproving the belief that these were invented later by Italians.  In 12th century France the ''courratiers de change'' were concerned with managing and regulating the debts of agricultural communities on behalf of the banks. Because these men also traded with debts, they could be called the first [[stockbroker|broker]]s.  In late 13th century [[Bruges]] commodity traders gathered inside the house of a man called ''Van der Beurse'', and in 1309 they became the "Bruges Beurse", institutionalizing what had been, until then, an informal meeting. The idea quickly spread around [[Flanders]] and neighboring counties and "Beurzen" soon opened in [[Ghent]] and [[Amsterdam]].<ref name="common_sense_aint_common">{{Cite book  | last1 = Shane Darrisaw | first1 = H. | title = Common Sense Ain't Common: A guide for positioning yourself to take full advantage of your credit and financial opportunities! | date = March 2008 | publisher = AuthorHouse | isbn = 978-1-4343-7559-9 | page = 86 }}</ref>

"In the middle of the 13th century [[Venice|Venetian]] bankers began to trade in [[Government debt|government securities]]. In 1351 the Venetian government outlawed spreading rumors intended to lower the price of government funds."<ref name="common_sense_aint_common"/> Bankers in [[Pisa]], [[Verona]], [[Genoa]] and [[Florence]] also began trading in government securities during the 14th century.  This practice was only possible, because these independent city states were not ruled by a duke but a council of influential citizens. The Dutch later started [[Joint-stock company|joint stock companies]], which let [[shareholder]]s invest in business ventures and get a share of their profits – or losses. In 1602, the [[Dutch East India Company]] issued the first shares on the [[Amsterdam Stock Exchange]]. It was the first company to issue stocks and bonds.<ref>{{cite web  | last = Chambers  | first = Clem | title = Who needs stock exchanges? | url = http://www.exchange-handbook.co.uk/index.cfm?section=articles&action=detail&id=60613 | publisher = Mondo Visione | access-date = 25 October 2009 }}</ref>

The [[Amsterdam Stock Exchange]] (or Amsterdam Beurs) is also said to have been the first stock exchange to introduce continuous trade in the early 17th century.  The Dutch "pioneered [[Short (finance)|short selling]], [[Options strategies|option trading]], debt-equity swaps, [[merchant bank]]ing, unit [[Trust law|trusts]] and other [[Speculation|speculative instruments]], much as we know them."<ref>{{cite web  | last = Sayle | first = Murray | title = LRB · Murray Sayle: Japan goes Dutch | url = http://www.lrb.co.uk/v23/n07/sayl01_.html | publisher = London Review of Books XXIII.7 | date = 5 April 2001 | access-date = 25 October 2009 }}</ref>