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Or do you prefer cash? : Pensions in kind in pre-modern Germany and the Low Countries

Pelzl, Ludwig and Zuijderduijn, Jaco LU (2024) In Datini Studies in Economic History p.237-255
Abstract
In the later Middle Ages and early modern period, many European hospitals developed into commercial retirement homes that allowed investors to pay for lifelong food and lodging. Their clients consisted mainly of elderly citizens who decided to spend their final years enjoying a pension, often living by themselves or occasionally with a spouse. Corrodies can best be understood as life annuities in kind: food and lodging were provided until the corrodian – or the longest-living spouse of a couple – passed away. Demand was so great that institutions are known to have had waiting lists or to raffle seats among potential investors. We claim that corrodies allowed investors who were looking to secure their livelihood to mitigate the risks that... (More)
In the later Middle Ages and early modern period, many European hospitals developed into commercial retirement homes that allowed investors to pay for lifelong food and lodging. Their clients consisted mainly of elderly citizens who decided to spend their final years enjoying a pension, often living by themselves or occasionally with a spouse. Corrodies can best be understood as life annuities in kind: food and lodging were provided until the corrodian – or the longest-living spouse of a couple – passed away. Demand was so great that institutions are known to have had waiting lists or to raffle seats among potential investors. We claim that corrodies allowed investors who were looking to secure their livelihood to mitigate the risks that came with financial instruments that paid in currency. Our paper contributes to a historiography that claims that payments in kind should not be considered ‘backwards’ but rather as techniques that offered protection against the whims of the market. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Corrodians, pensions, annuities, payments in kind, retirement homes
host publication
Mezzi di scambio non monetari. Merci e servizi come monete alternative nelle economie dei secoli XIII-XVIII / Alternative currencies. Commodities and services as exchange currencies in the monetarized economies of the 13th to 18th centuries
series title
Datini Studies in Economic History
editor
Orlandi, Angela
pages
237 - 255
publisher
Firenze University Press
ISBN
979-12-215-0346-3
979-12-215-0347-0
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0.15
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
71ff292e-8918-483d-91eb-92508aae7210
date added to LUP
2024-05-08 11:57:53
date last changed
2024-05-13 07:58:45
@inbook{71ff292e-8918-483d-91eb-92508aae7210,
  abstract     = {{In the later Middle Ages and early modern period, many European hospitals developed into commercial retirement homes that allowed investors to pay for lifelong food and lodging. Their clients consisted mainly of elderly citizens who decided to spend their final years enjoying a pension, often living by themselves or occasionally with a spouse. Corrodies can best be understood as life annuities in kind: food and lodging were provided until the corrodian – or the longest-living spouse of a couple – passed away. Demand was so great that institutions are known to have had waiting lists or to raffle seats among potential investors. We claim that corrodies allowed investors who were looking to secure their livelihood to mitigate the risks that came with financial instruments that paid in currency. Our paper contributes to a historiography that claims that payments in kind should not be considered ‘backwards’ but rather as techniques that offered protection against the whims of the market.}},
  author       = {{Pelzl, Ludwig and Zuijderduijn, Jaco}},
  booktitle    = {{Mezzi di scambio non monetari. Merci e servizi come monete alternative nelle economie dei secoli XIII-XVIII / Alternative currencies. Commodities and services as exchange currencies in the monetarized economies of the 13th to 18th centuries}},
  editor       = {{Orlandi, Angela}},
  isbn         = {{979-12-215-0346-3}},
  keywords     = {{Corrodians; pensions; annuities; payments in kind; retirement homes}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{237--255}},
  publisher    = {{Firenze University Press}},
  series       = {{Datini Studies in Economic History}},
  title        = {{Or do you prefer cash? : Pensions in kind in pre-modern Germany and the Low Countries}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0.15}},
  doi          = {{10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0.15}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}