In an era when financial markets were only beginning the move from personal to impersonal relations, this paper examines the role of Jewish brokers in the market for Bank of England stock at a time when their status as recent immigrants, subject to constraints due to religion and ethnicity, made...

We explore the impact of one of the earlier epidemics to hit natives living in the Hudson Bay drainage basin: the smallpox outbreak of 1780-82. We review contemporary descriptions of the epidemic and how Europeans at the time viewed its impact on the native population of the region. We then...

The Great Divergence in standards of living for populations around the world occurred in the late 18th century. Prior to that date, evidence suggests that real wages of most Europeans, many living in China and India were similar. Some were a little higher and some a little lower, but with a low...

This paper examines the responses of Indigenous nations and European companies to new trading opportunities: Cree nations and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), and Khoe nations and the Dutch East India Company (VOC). This case study is important because of the disparate outcomes: within a few...