Before capital markets were sufficiently developed to raise large amounts of money but after the point in which even the largest enterprises, governments included, could be funded by a single family, other institutions acted as financial intermediaries. Banks and insurance companies were such intermediaries but before they achieved large size there were institutions such as…
State borrowing allows governments to pursue undertakings they would otherwise find impossible. Whether for large infrastructure projects or social reforms, public borrowing can create greater prosperity or expensive mistakes. When the latter are the result and the borrowing was done domestically, the public is hurt doubly, both as borrower and as investor. In the case…
In the history of finance, many diverse objects have become the center of speculative attention, even perishable items. Agricultural commodities have caused investment crazes that boom and bust as dramatically as any. These are not always the major ‘cash crops’ that are obviously commercially important. Included are even novel crops or livestock that, at least…
During the Financial Revolution that got underway in the 1690s, England and Scotland were linked by an integrated financial and mercantile community and a free flow of ideas. This helps explain how it was that the Bank of England and the Bank of Scotland could be formed almost simultaneously. Also, Scots in London, including one…
The invention of coins brought about a commercial revolution as a new market economy began to develop in the midst of more primitive means of distributing production across consumers. However, money also had negative side effects. It provided a new way of storing wealth that served no productive end in itself; unlike an estate, a…
