The underlying idea was constantly to search for and define the just price, in order to pursue commutative justice in exchanges, a concept that, together with distributive justice, was forcefully stressed by Thomas Aquinas as the basis of orderly life in the community. Later, the doctors of the Sorbonne and the great Italian universities also addressed the question of insurance.
Taking a premium to insure goods against the risks of shipwreck and piracy was acceptable, but the insurers had to possess adequate capital, what we would call actuarial reserves today, with which to indemnify the insured in the event of claims. Fresh impetus was given to the study of economic phenomena by the monetary upheavals that followed the discovery of America.