Introduction -- The stock market in early modern England -- Politics, warfare and finance -- Financial innovation and trade -- The bubble and the crash -- Reasons to invest in the South Sea Company -- Criticism and financial complexity -- The social history of the crash -- The real effects of...

This book advances a new theory of why nationalism emerged in the modern world. In particular it explains why nationalism and economic development are closely linked, and why warfare plays a crucial role in the spread of the nation-state system. It is based on qualitative and quantitative...