This paper describes the evolution of merchant banks--merchants who specialized in remittance and credit. It examines the sources of their funds and the use to which they put them in exchange trading, commercial credit, and sovereign lending. It discusses the methods the banks used to manage...

This paper describes the evolution of the bill of exchange in medieval and early modern Europe both as a means of remittance and as an instrument of credit. It examines the evolution of the instrument, its use in remittance, its effect on international bullion flows, and its use as an instrument...

This paper describes the development of the deposit bank in Europe to 1600. Deposit banks allowed customers to make payments by transferring deposits on the books of the bank rather than by settling in coin. The paper describes how such payments were made and what kinds of transactions they were...

This paper describes the chaotic monetary environment of medieval and early modern Europe. The poor quality of the coinage was a result both of problems with the supply of bullion and with deficiencies of monetary policy. The paper examines the supply and demand of bullion and the determinants...

The theory of value has serious limitations as a general theory of economics. Consequently, many economists have sought to modify it by incorporating those aspects of exchange that it assumes away--the difficulties of exchange, the methods of overcoming them, and the implications of expanding...

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...