Monday 28 June 2010

The practice of X? -- June 29

In ancient economies X was in the form of people helping each other. X, in the mordern sense of distributing risk, was practised by Chinese and Babylonian traders as early as 2000 BC.

"Chinese merchants travelling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessel's capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c. 1750 BC, and practised by early Mediterranean sailing merchants."

Benjamin Franklin helped to popularize and make standard the practice of X. He also started a company for the same.

What's X?

4 comments:

Nikhil said...

Insurance?

Ankur said...

Insurance?

Rahul said...

insurance/hedging?

The Answer said...

Insurance! Thanks for playing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance