The turbulent 1830s saw a sequence of great political and social reforms in the UK. One such reform was the introduction of a locally funded poor law in Ireland. The development of a nascent welfare system in 1838 coincided with a boom in the formation of microfinance institutions in Ireland....

Extensive attention has been given to countries that run current account deficits, but little attention has been devoted to understanding why countries run large surpluses. This is surprising given that unsustainable international imbalances result from one as much as the other. We begin with a...