Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Contributors
- List of Charts and Tables
- Introduction
- 1 The Financial Administration of North Hanseatic Cities in the Late Middle Ages: Development, Organization and Politics
- 2 Government Debts and Credit Markets in Renaissance Italy
- 3 Government Debts and Financial Markets in Castile between the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
- 4 Government Debt and Financial Markets: Exploring Pro-Cycle Effects in Northern Italy during the Sixteenth and the Seventeenth Centuries
- 5 Government Policies and the Development of Financial Markets: The Case of Madrid in the Seventeenth Century
- 6 The Role Played by Short-Term Credit in the Spanish Monarchy's Finances
- 7 From Subordination to Autonomy: Public Debt Policies and the Creation of a Self-Ruled Financial Market in the Kingdom of Naples in the Long Run (1500–1800)
- 8 Public Debt in the Papal States: Financial Market and Government Strategies in the Long Run (Seventeenth–Nineteenth Centuries)
- 9 Towards a New Public Credit Policy in Eighteenth-Century Spain: the Introduction of the Tesorería Mayor de Guerra (1703–6)
- 10 French Public Finance between 1683 and 1726
- 11 Long-Term War Loans and Market Expectations in England, 1743–50
- 12 Mercantilist Institutions for the Pursuit of Power with Profit: The Management of Britain's National Debt, 1756–1815
- 13 Italian Government Debt Sustainability in the Long Run, 1861–2000
- 14 Times of Wasteful Abundance: The Apogee of the Fiscal State in the Federal Republic of Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s
- Conclusion: Final Remarks
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Introduction
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Contributors
- List of Charts and Tables
- Introduction
- 1 The Financial Administration of North Hanseatic Cities in the Late Middle Ages: Development, Organization and Politics
- 2 Government Debts and Credit Markets in Renaissance Italy
- 3 Government Debts and Financial Markets in Castile between the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
- 4 Government Debt and Financial Markets: Exploring Pro-Cycle Effects in Northern Italy during the Sixteenth and the Seventeenth Centuries
- 5 Government Policies and the Development of Financial Markets: The Case of Madrid in the Seventeenth Century
- 6 The Role Played by Short-Term Credit in the Spanish Monarchy's Finances
- 7 From Subordination to Autonomy: Public Debt Policies and the Creation of a Self-Ruled Financial Market in the Kingdom of Naples in the Long Run (1500–1800)
- 8 Public Debt in the Papal States: Financial Market and Government Strategies in the Long Run (Seventeenth–Nineteenth Centuries)
- 9 Towards a New Public Credit Policy in Eighteenth-Century Spain: the Introduction of the Tesorería Mayor de Guerra (1703–6)
- 10 French Public Finance between 1683 and 1726
- 11 Long-Term War Loans and Market Expectations in England, 1743–50
- 12 Mercantilist Institutions for the Pursuit of Power with Profit: The Management of Britain's National Debt, 1756–1815
- 13 Italian Government Debt Sustainability in the Long Run, 1861–2000
- 14 Times of Wasteful Abundance: The Apogee of the Fiscal State in the Federal Republic of Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s
- Conclusion: Final Remarks
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Government debts and financial markets in Europe, from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, were the subject of discussion at the XIVth Congress of the International Economic History Association in Helsinki in August 2006. In particular, the relationship between government indebtedness and the creation of enduring financial markets provided a focus of the discussions. Scholars from different academic backgrounds looked at the subject from a comparative perspective and from different angles. This collection publishes the essence of this research, but the articles provide for a more in-depth discussion than what was presented at Helsinki. All contributions draw on original research and discuss some of the most important aspects of public finance history.
Throughout history and until the present day, public debt service has signified a basic problem within European state finances. From the late middle ages onwards – if not earlier – urban and central governments began to raise money through long- and short-term loans. Initially, indebtedness was intended to finance war budgets, but gradually money was channelled towards civil purposes such as public works or food supply. Municipal and state authorities could either approach prominent bankers, merchants and money lenders, or they could apply directly for the savings of private citizens. On occasion, both methods were pursued in parallel in some local areas. Monarchs largely preferred to negotiate with high-level financiers, in exchange for profitable fiscal revenues from the crown, whereas urban governments preferred to launch forced or free loans, involving citizens in the debt business along the way. However, it is very difficult to categorize or locate the various debt systems across Europe from the late medieval and early modern period onwards.
The growth of a public debt service is closely linked with the most important aspects of state-building processes and forms of government. Raising money through debts strongly depends, where representative assemblies are in place, on the consensus won by government or the power held by the ruling morarch.
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- Information
- Government Debts and Financial Markets in Europe , pp. 1 - 4Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014