This edited collection demonstrates how economic history can be analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods, connecting statistical research with the social, cultural and psychological aspects of history. With their focus on the time between the end of the commercial revolution and...

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Information -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of contents -- About the editors -- Contributors -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1 Introduction to interest and debt -- Introduction -- The interest-bearing debt: conceptual...

"With the spread of interest-based transactions, major problems such as inequality, poverty and debt-based slavery have emerged. Those who practiced professions such as usury have, despite the negative connotations attributed to them, contributed extensively to the construction of the...