1.Introduction: Fair Price and Sufficient Profit -- 2.Victorian Pawnbrokers: Cancerous Worms of Ruin or the Poor Man’s Banker? -- 3.Moneylenders: Deeply Rooted Evil or Providers of Quick Cash? -- 4.Legitimate Bankers: Pawnbrokers and Moneylenders Join the Premier League -- 5.Small-loan...

This paper identifies a sharp decline in the volatility of consol prices after the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815. The volatility of consol returns drops by more than half after 1815 and our empirical testing confirms a long period of remarkable stability that includes the entire Victorian...