As bonds left untied make us reflect on the places where we never went, this chapter offers an economic, historical and political meditation on a bond between Portugal and Rothschild that was not tied. By discussing what was not and what might have been, the story offers ways to reflect on what...

This paper covers the long-term evolution of the primary market for foreign government debt. We discuss the role of financial intermediaries as underwriters and distributors of securities, providers of information, and lending of last resort services since the early 19th century, and the...

We provide a comparison of salient organizational features of primary markets for foreign government debt over the very long run. We focus on output, quality control, information provision, competition, pricing, charging and signaling. We find that the market set up experienced a radical...