This book offers 14 contributions that examine key questions in bank decision-taking, constitution of confidence in banks and risk management practices from Early Modernity to the twentieth century. It explores how the various mechanisms of bank decision taking changed over time. Chapters also...

Risk and reinsurance / Niels Viggo Haueter and Geoffrey Jones -- The cultural context of insurance in the West / Geoffrey Clark -- The evolution of the industry structure / Robin Pearson -- The monetary and financial environment, 1860-2013 / Forrest Capie -- Calculating the unpredictable :...