"The book explores the vital role played by the financial service industries in enabling the poor to consume over the last hundred and fifty years. Spending requires means, but these industries offered something else as well - they offered practical marketing devices that captured, captivated...

1. Unearthing the 'very dirt of private fact' : the work of market devices -- 2. Groovy like the market? Problems with fit and adaptation in government schemes to insure the poor -- 3. Organising charisma : the role of doorstep finance agents -- 4. Following the lines from conversation to...

Recent research in economic history has found that mortgage debt in relation to GDP has taken off in the historical long run ("great mortgaging"), as growing banking assets have been redirected into mortgage credit. This paper maps the parallel long-run investment history of private (life)...

This paper reviews the long run developments in the distribution of personal income and wealth. It also discusses suggested explanations for the observed patterns. We try to answer questions such as: What do we know, and how do we know, about the distribution of income and wealth over time? Are...