Government finance in pre-industrial Europe was shaped by two forces - continuing economic development and incessant warfare. Continuing economic development increased potential revenue and altered the ways in which it could be mobilized. Incessant warfare exerted constant, often intense,...

In pre-industrial Europe, government and the economy developed together, each influencing the other. The development of each was shaped by competition. Governments competed for territory, principally by means of war. Their success depended primarily on their ability to mobilize resources. So...

Pre-industrial Europe was served by a network of market centers - market towns, fairs, and commercial cities. Within these centers, there were organized markets that lowered the cost of trading. An organized market provided traders with information, facilities for trading, a system of...

Business in pre-industrial Europe was predominantly commercial, and its organization served the two basic requirements of commerce-representation in distant markets and financing. The various forms of organization included the sea loan, commenda, the share venture, the joint stock company, the...

This paper reexamines the view that opening capital markets must have long-run benefits. The analysis shows that the desirability of opening a country's capital markets depends on the nature of the technology assumed. Models of knowledge-based growth predict that changes which alter the...

We develop an operational empirical measure of liquidity consistent with the definition first suggested by Keynes: An asset is more liquid if it is quot;more certainly realizable at short notice without loss.quot; We define this loss as the difference between the value realizable from optimal...

In pre-industrial Europe the technology of war advanced at an unusually rapid pace. The period's almost incessant warfare ensured a strong demand for improvements in the technology of war. At the same time, rapid economic development created an environment that was conducive to the supply of...

The principal driving force in the development of the financial system of pre-industrial Europe was not lending per se, but payments. Trade among strangers required the development of methods of payment that did not require mutual acquaintance and trust. The two principal financial innovations...

This paper describes the evolution of financial risk instruments in Europe before 1600. It discusses the evolution of marine insurance and its displacement of the sea loan, as well as early examples of forward transactions, options, and futures contracts. In contrast to business, households had...

This paper describes the evolution of long-term debt and equity finance in medieval and early modern Europe. The main issuers of long-term debt were landowners and municipalities. The paper discusses the evolution of debt secured by land and the use by municipal borrowers of annuities and...