October 2, 2009
McCants, Anne E.C. (1997) “The Rise and Decline of an Institutional Endowment, in Civic Charity in a Golden Age. Orphan Care in Early Modern Amsterdam, Urbana/Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 151-191.



Numerous elements point to the fact that Dutch charities were well-endowed in the early modern period (p.151). Nonetheless charities were expensive to run and part of the funds came from the beneficiaries themselves. For instance at the Amsterdam Municipal Orphanage, or Bugerweeshuis,
“the orphaned children of poor, but nonetheless, citizen, parents could not be denied entry on the basis of an inadequate inheritance to defray the cost of their support. But the orphaned children of prosperous citizens could also not expect to be cared for entirely at public expenses.”
Nonetheless the bulk of the institution’s resources came from its invested endowment (p.153). Read the rest of this entry »
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Early Modern, Economic History, Europe, reading notes | Tagged: 1500s, 1600s, 1700s, alms, alteratie, Amsterdam, annuities, Batavian republic, Burgerweeshuis, charity, Dutch Republic, finance, institutional investors, investment, Netherlands, obligations, orphan, orphanage, portfolio, real estate, securities |
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Posted by Ben
August 10, 2009
Carlos, Ann M., Jennifer Key and Jill L. Dupree (1998) “Learning and the Creation of Stock-Market Institutions: Evidence from the Royal African and Hudson’s Bay Companies, 1670-1700”, The Journal of Economic History, 58/2: 318-344.



Disclaimer: this summary is written by the blog and not by the authors of the article. Any mistake is Manuel’s fault.
Introduction
“England’s emergence as an international trading nation in the seventeenth century can be linked to the growth of trading arrangements that allowed for a longer life of capital either […] as a joint-stock trading company” (p.318).
According to North and Weingast’s famous thesis this emergence was made possible by the reforms brought by the 1688 Glorious Revolution. However the authors underline the fact that markets don’t grow instantaneously and it takes some times for the actors to learn how to use the market (p.319). Read the rest of this entry »
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Early Modern, Economic History, Europe, reading notes | Tagged: 1600s, 1700s, bankers, brokers, corporation, early finance, East India Company, England, finance, financial history, financial intermediaries, financial market, Glorious Revolution, goldsmith bankers, Great Britain, Hudson Bay Company, know-how, learning curve, London, premodern finance, Royal African Company, secondary market, securities, shareholders, stock exchange, stock-market, United Kingdom |
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Posted by Ben
March 11, 2009
Sylla, Richard (2002) “Financial Systems and Economic Modernization”, The Journal of Economic History, 62/2, 277-292.



Introduction
The author answers the age-old question, “why isn’t the whole world developed?” by arguing that development differences can be explained by the “spread of modern financial systems, which serve to facilitate the acquisition and application of both nonhuman and human capital”. And the “key institutional components” necessary to describe what is a modern financial system are: “sound public finances and public debt managements; stable monetary and payment arrangements; sound banking system (more generally, institutional lenders); an effective central bank; and sound insurance companies (more generally, institutional investors)” (p.280). Read the rest of this entry »
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America, Asia, Early Modern, Economic History, Europe, Modern Era, reading notes | Tagged: 1600s, 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, central bank, England, finances, growth, Hamilton, Japan, Matsukata, Netherlands, securities, take-off, USA |
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Posted by Ben