SELLING TOBACCO ACROSS THE KINGDOM: DISTRIBUTION UNDER THE PORTUGUESE MONOPOLY (1721-1722)

Abstract

This article examines the organizational strategies put in place by Willem de Bruijn and Paulo Cloots, as general farmers of the Portuguese tobacco mono- poly, to distribute tobacco in the metropolitan market. It concludes that the Dutch consortium innovated through organizational changes that positively impacted sales in the southern districts of Portugal. The comparison with the central and northern districts also shows that the Dutch tax farmers were able to mitigate agency problems in the South.