Social Structure and Intermediation: Market-making Strategies in International Exchange*

Abstract

ABSTRACTInformation gaps between markets create opportunities for international trade intermediaries to negotiate cross-border exchanges. Faced with the prospect of eventually being eliminated from these exchanges, intermediaries must continually search for new opportunities to mediate international exchange. In this paper an original explanation is derived from the core principles of structural hole theory to explain how these market-making firms operate in the tension found between the inevitable decay of existing exchange relationships and the uncertainty of finding replacement sources of income.