Financial History – serie

This is a comprehensive biography of Clarence Charles Hatry, 1888-1965, an enigmatic and charismatic public figure. Hatry was the son of Jewish immigrant parents who became a company promoter and whose companies collapsed in 1929, leading to a crash on the London stock exchange. He was brought down by a desperate fraud. At his trial three months later, the judge said that he could not imagine a worse crime.Analysing transactions in detail, the book reveals Hatry’s brilliance as a manipulator and a world-class networker and persuader. It also demonstrates his vain belief in his ability to overcome any risks and his insecurity which led him to surround himself with sycophants who would not challenge his ideas. It shows how others used Hatry to make money, and, as he destroyed himself, as a scapegoat who distracted from the City’s failings. Despite his deepest ambitions, he remained an outsider. Until now there has been no full biography of Clarence Hatry, which may be attributable to the lack of records, as his business papers are believed all to have been destroyed. This comprehensive biography is based on examination of the memoirs of Hatry’s contemporaries, the archives and records which they and their companies preserved, and press reports of Hatry’s activities. Marking the 90th anniversary of Hatry’s collapse, this book will be important reading for academics and researchers looking to gain a greater understanding of the context of the 1929 crash, or of financial crises generally.

Banking historiography often does not sufficiently take into account bankers’ deliberations of their decision making, but rather limits investigation to considerations of profit maximisation. This book shows that the decision-making processes of nineteenth-century bankers contemplating high-risk financial markets like Greece are just as complex as present-day investment decisions.The book, now published in English after a first German edition, offers in-depth studies of decision making in concrete historical situations, considering political and economic circumstances and also the individual background of the actors concerned, including a reflection on the influence of cultural movements such as Philhellenism. Employing methodological inspirations from the field of behavioural finance, the book analyses a broad range of published and unpublished English, French, Greek, German and Swiss sources on European investment in Greece between 1821 and the Balkan wars. Additionally, rich insights into Greek economic history, the economic integration of the country into Europe and long-lasting European stereotypes of Southern Europe and Greece are provided; this furthers understanding of the historical background of the Greek financial crisis after 2009.In combining the perspectives of financial, economic, political and cultural history, this book is primarily significant for students of various fields of historiography. Due to its strong awareness of methodological questions, it is also of great interest to academic historians. In addition, the strong public interest in the Greek financial crisis after 2009 and its consequences for Europe will, thirdly, attract the interest of a broader public.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 International license.

Banking historiography often does not sufficiently take into account bankers’ deliberations of their decision making, but rather limits investigation to considerations of profit maximisation. This book shows that the decision-making processes of nineteenth-century bankers contemplating high-risk financial markets like Greece are just as complex as present-day investment decisions.The book, now published in English after a first German edition, offers in-depth studies of decision making in concrete historical situations, considering political and economic circumstances and also the individual background of the actors concerned, including a reflection on the influence of cultural movements such as Philhellenism. Employing methodological inspirations from the field of behavioural finance, the book analyses a broad range of published and unpublished English, French, Greek, German and Swiss sources on European investment in Greece between 1821 and the Balkan wars. Additionally, rich insights into Greek economic history, the economic integration of the country into Europe and long-lasting European stereotypes of Southern Europe and Greece are provided; this furthers understanding of the historical background of the Greek financial crisis after 2009.In combining the perspectives of financial, economic, political and cultural history, this book is primarily significant for students of various fields of historiography. Due to its strong awareness of methodological questions, it is also of great interest to academic historians. In addition, the strong public interest in the Greek financial crisis after 2009 and its consequences for Europe will, thirdly, attract the interest of a broader public.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 International license.

The idea that each country should have one currency is so deeply rooted in people’s minds that the possibility of multiple and concurrent currencies seems unthinkable. Monetary systems contribute to problems of high unemployment and social distress during financial and economic crisis, so reforms to increase the responsiveness and flexibility of the monetary system can be part of the solution.This book discusses ‘monetary plurality’, which is the circulation of several currencies at the same time and space. It addresses how multiple currency circuits work together and transform socio-economic systems, particularly by supporting economies at the local level of regions and cities. The book shows that monetary plurality has been ubiquitous throughout history and persists at present because the existence of several currency circuits facilitates small-scale production and trade in a way that no single currency can accomplish on its own.Monetary plurality can improve resilience, access to livelihoods and economic sustainability. At the same time, it introduces new risks in terms of economic governance, so it needs to be properly understood. The book analyses experiences of monetary plurality in Europe, Japan, and North and South America, written by researchers from East and West and from the global North and South. Replete with case studies, this book will prove a valuable addition to any student or practitioner’s bookshelf.

Brazil has one of the world’s fastest growing economies and a fascinating history underpinning its evolution. This book presents an analysis of the state’s role in monetary policy, from the latter days of Portuguese rule, to the present day. Based on a variety of unknown archival sources, this study offers an alternative explanation for the rise and fall of Brazilian currencies. Monetary statecraft is a theory that accounts for the open ended, autonomous character of politics, the complex, recursive phases of public policy, and political development in the traditional sense of social inclusion. Unfortunately, there are few precedents for this type of analysis. This book fills this gap by tracing how Brazilian policy makers and observers have sought, experimented with, and reflected on a variety of forms and solutions for monetary policy since 1808.This book will be of interest to economists, financial historians and those interested in the history and economy of Brazil.

London merchant bankers emerged during the 1820s in the wake of financial turmoil caused by the wars of American Independence, the Napoleonic campaigns and the Anglo-American war of 1812. Though the majority of merchant bankers remained cautious in their affairs, Huth & Co established an impressive global network of trade and lending, dealing with over 6,000 correspondents in more than seventy countries. Based on archival research, this comparative study provides a new chronology of early nineteenth-century commercial and financial expansion.Huth & Co. were truly market-makers and key intermediaries of commodities and capital flows in the international economy. This is an important example of a firm shaping globalisation well before the transport and communication revolution of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. But rather than a case study, this is a comparative study concerned with the commercial and financial activities of the leading merchant-bankers of the periodThis book will be of great interest to business and economic historians interested in the nature of the early decades of the first globalization.

This book examines the history of what became one of Portugal’s largest banks, the Caixa Geral de Depósitos. The bank was founded in 1876 by the state to run public deposits, and evolved into a savings bank, catering for both public and private deposits. Its history goes beyond the history of banking, as it ties in with the role of the state in the banking sector and financial markets. The book weaves in and out of different political and international contexts, following the many changes of the Portuguese political regime and of its interactions with the national and international economy. The most important lesson from the study is that publicly owned institutions can compete successfully with the private sector when they simultaneously cater for the interests of policy makers as well as those of the public, in this case, the depositors. The history of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos therefore shows how the state of a peripheral economy is capable of successfully managing a large financial institution when the right set of incentives is in place. This work will be a valuable resource for researchers and students of financial and economic history at both the advanced undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It will also provide interesting insights for practitioners in the financial sector.

This book analyses the formation of the Spanish banking system. It provides a general overview of European financial systems in operation during the mid-nineteenth century, followed by a detailed analysis of the economic and institutional changes that gave rise to a new form of banking in Spain.The chapters analyse changes on banking regulation; study the social origin of banks’ promoters; investigate the economic results of banks; and evaluate the interaction between banks and the economy as a whole. Finally, the causes, extent and consequences of monetary plurality in Spain and its European context are discussed. As such, this book covers the gap that exists in the Spanish banking historiography. Until now only the Bank of Spain and its predecessors had been adequately examined. As the Bank of Spain acted mostly as the state’s financial agent, we know very little about private-sector financing. This text provides data and analysis for a more comprehensive view of early Spanish financial development in a comparative European framework.The Origins of Modern Banking in Spain should be considered essential reading for financial history students and scholars, as well as anybody interested in longview approaches to modern financial development.

This is a comprehensive biography of Clarence Charles Hatry, 1888-1965, an enigmatic and charismatic public figure. Hatry was the son of Jewish immigrant parents who became a company promoter and whose companies collapsed in 1929, leading to a crash on the London stock exchange. He was brought down by a desperate fraud. At his trial three months later, the judge said that he could not imagine a worse crime.Analysing transactions in detail, the book reveals Hatry’s brilliance as a manipulator and a world-class networker and persuader. It also demonstrates his vain belief in his ability to overcome any risks and his insecurity which led him to surround himself with sycophants who would not challenge his ideas. It shows how others used Hatry to make money, and, as he destroyed himself, as a scapegoat who distracted from the City’s failings. Despite his deepest ambitions, he remained an outsider. Until now there has been no full biography of Clarence Hatry, which may be attributable to the lack of records, as his business papers are believed all to have been destroyed. This comprehensive biography is based on examination of the memoirs of Hatry’s contemporaries, the archives and records which they and their companies preserved, and press reports of Hatry’s activities. Marking the 90th anniversary of Hatry’s collapse, this book will be important reading for academics and researchers looking to gain a greater understanding of the context of the 1929 crash, or of financial crises generally.

In 1914, the notion of statutory regulation of trading in shares was anathema to both the Government and the London Stock Exchange. By 1945, a statutory scheme of regulation had been introduced. This book serves to: Track the steps by which this outcome came about, Explain why the Exchange felt obliged in the process to abandon long-cherished policies, Analyse the forces which led to it, and Account for the form in which it was implemented. Throughout the period, the attitudes of both the Stock Exchange and Government were affected by widening interest in share ownership, the increasing tendency for business interests to look to the Exchange for long-term finance, and the increasing challenge of financing the Government’s expenditure. At a disaggregated level, the market was able to respond to changing circumstances taking advantages of opportunities and weaknesses. At an aggregated level, the Exchange was not able to foresee the implications of change or to forestall unfortunate consequences. This exposed the weakness of the criminal justice system and its failure to serve as a deterrent for abuse. This study, the only book to take full account of the documents held by the National Archives in relation to the Bodkin Committee, examines the stages by which share trading in the United Kingdom came to be a statutorily regulated activity and by which the London Stock Exchange moved from being antagonistic towards public regulation in 1914 to lobbying in 1944 for the new scheme to be implemented.

The Nine Years’ War with France was a period of great institutional innovation in public finance and of severe monetary turmoil for England. It saw the creation of the Bank of England; a sudden sharp fall in the external value of the pound; a massive undertaking to melt down and recoin most of the nation’s silver currency; a failed attempt to create a National Land Bank as a competitor to the Bank of England; and the ensuing outbreak of a sharp monetary and financial crisis.Histories of this period usually divide these events into two main topics, treated in isolation from one another: the recoinage debate and ensuing monetary crisis and a ‘battle of the banks’. The first is often interpreted as the pyrrhic victory of a creditor-dominated parliament over the nation’s debtors, one that led very predictably to the ensuing monetary crisis. The second has been construed as a contest between whig-merchant and tory-gentry visions of the proper place of banking in England’s future. This book binds the two strands into a single narrative, resulting in a very different interpretation of both. Parliamentary debate over the recoinage was superficial and misleading; beneath the surface, it was just another front for the battle of the banks. And the latter had little to do with competing philosophies of economic development; it was rather a pragmatic struggle for profit and power, involving interlocking contests between two groups of financiers and two sets of politicians within the royal administration. The monetary crisis of summer 1696 was not the result of poor planning by the Treasury; rather it was a continuation of the battle of the banks, fought on new ground but with the same ultimate intent – to establish dominance in the lucrative business of private lending to the crown.

The passage of the National Currency Act of 1863 gave the United States its first uniform paper money, its first nationally chartered and supervised commercial banks, and its first modern regulatory agency: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The law marked a milestone in the development of the U.S. financial system and the modern administrative state. Yet its importance has been largely overlooked. Banking Modern America aims to address that gap. With its unique multidisciplinary approach that brings together scholars from disciplines including history, economics, the law, and finance, this book lends a new dimension to studying the origins and development of a system that touched key aspects of modern America. Chapters examine key episodes in the history of Federal banking, looking at the Civil War origins of the national banking system and the practical challenges of setting up a new system of money and banking. The essays in this volume explore the tensions that arose between bankers and Federal regulators, between governmental jurisdictions, and even between regulators themselves. This book will be essential reading for academics of banking and finance, regulation, numismatics and history, as well as professional economists, historians and policy makers interested in the history of the US financial system.

Egypt’s central position in the Middle East made it enviable among leading imperialist powers, with competition unfolding across cultural, diplomatic, and economic spheres. Furthermore, the Egyptian case is of exceptional interest within the region because of the interplay of several countries and numerous colonies of foreigners. The Italian community, second in number only to the Greek, was deeply integrated in the Egyptian economy and society, yet existing historiography has largely overlooked the consequences of this multinational coexistence.This book examines Italian economic initiatives in Egypt from the late nineteenth century to the Second World War, focusing in particular on the banking sector as the cornerstone of Italy’s economic strategy, both as a driver of investment and as a key instrument for broader economic expansion. Drawing on largely unpublished banking and diplomatic sources, the book traces the history of Italian banks in Egypt, from the first venture established in Alexandria in 1887 to the arrival of major Italian institutions in the early twentieth century. It explores both the ambitions and failures of Italian economic interests in a rapidly changing international context, exploring relationships between Western powers and Egyptian society during a period when growing nationalism would eventually force Britain to recognize Egyptian independence. It investigates projects by major Italian banks and the resident Italian community, analysing their links with other foreign colonies and the indigenous population.The book is primarily aimed at business history scholars, particularly those interested in multinational banking and financial history, but will also appeal to readers interested in imperial history, minority communities, and international relations generally.

Tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax resistance are widespread phenomena in political, economic, social and fiscal history from antiquity through medieval, early modern and modern times. Histories of Tax Evasion, Avoidance and Resistance shows how different groups and individuals around the globe have succeeded or failed in not paying their due taxes, whether in kind or in cash, on their properties or on their crops. It analyses how, throughout history, wealthy and poor taxpayers have tried to avoid or reduce their tax burden by negotiating with tax authorities, through practices of legal or illegal tax evasion, by filing lawsuits, seeking armed resistance or by migration, and how state authorities have dealt with such acts of claim making, defiance, open resistance or elusion. It fills an important research gap in tax history, addressing questions of tax morale and fairness, and how social and political inequality was negotiated through taxation. It gives rich insights into the development of citizen-state relationships throughout the course of history. The book comprises case studies from Ancient Athens, Roman Egypt, Medieval Europe, Early Modern Mexico, the Ottoman Empire, Nigeria under British colonial rule, the United Kingdom of the early 20th century, Greece during the Second World War, as well as West Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the United States in the 20th century, including transnational entanglements in the world of late-modern offshore finance and taxation. The authors are experts in fiscal, economic, financial, legal, social and/or cultural history. The book is intended for students, researchers and scholars of economic and financial history, social and world history and political economy.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 license.

Tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax resistance are widespread phenomena in political, economic, social and fiscal history from antiquity through medieval, early modern and modern times. Histories of Tax Evasion, Avoidance and Resistance shows how different groups and individuals around the globe have succeeded or failed in not paying their due taxes, whether in kind or in cash, on their properties or on their crops. It analyses how, throughout history, wealthy and poor taxpayers have tried to avoid or reduce their tax burden by negotiating with tax authorities, through practices of legal or illegal tax evasion, by filing lawsuits, seeking armed resistance or by migration, and how state authorities have dealt with such acts of claim making, defiance, open resistance or elusion. It fills an important research gap in tax history, addressing questions of tax morale and fairness, and how social and political inequality was negotiated through taxation. It gives rich insights into the development of citizen-state relationships throughout the course of history. The book comprises case studies from Ancient Athens, Roman Egypt, Medieval Europe, Early Modern Mexico, the Ottoman Empire, Nigeria under British colonial rule, the United Kingdom of the early 20th century, Greece during the Second World War, as well as West Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the United States in the 20th century, including transnational entanglements in the world of late-modern offshore finance and taxation. The authors are experts in fiscal, economic, financial, legal, social and/or cultural history. The book is intended for students, researchers and scholars of economic and financial history, social and world history and political economy.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 license.

The Nine Years’ War with France was a period of great institutional innovation in public finance and of severe monetary turmoil for England. It saw the creation of the Bank of England; a sudden sharp fall in the external value of the pound; a massive undertaking to melt down and recoin most of the nation’s silver currency; a failed attempt to create a National Land Bank as a competitor to the Bank of England; and the ensuing outbreak of a sharp monetary and financial crisis.Histories of this period usually divide these events into two main topics, treated in isolation from one another: the recoinage debate and ensuing monetary crisis and a ‘battle of the banks’. The first is often interpreted as the pyrrhic victory of a creditor-dominated parliament over the nation’s debtors, one that led very predictably to the ensuing monetary crisis. The second has been construed as a contest between whig-merchant and tory-gentry visions of the proper place of banking in England’s future. This book binds the two strands into a single narrative, resulting in a very different interpretation of both. Parliamentary debate over the recoinage was superficial and misleading; beneath the surface, it was just another front for the battle of the banks. And the latter had little to do with competing philosophies of economic development; it was rather a pragmatic struggle for profit and power, involving interlocking contests between two groups of financiers and two sets of politicians within the royal administration. The monetary crisis of summer 1696 was not the result of poor planning by the Treasury; rather it was a continuation of the battle of the banks, fought on new ground but with the same ultimate intent – to establish dominance in the lucrative business of private lending to the crown.

In 1914, the notion of statutory regulation of trading in shares was anathema to both the Government and the London Stock Exchange. By 1945, a statutory scheme of regulation had been introduced. This book serves to: Track the steps by which this outcome came about, Explain why the Exchange felt obliged in the process to abandon long-cherished policies, Analyse the forces which led to it, and Account for the form in which it was implemented.Throughout the period, the attitudes of both the Stock Exchange and Government were affected by widening interest in share ownership, the increasing tendency for business interests to look to the Exchange for long-term finance, and the increasing challenge of financing the Government’s expenditure. At a disaggregated level, the market was able to respond to changing circumstances taking advantages of opportunities and weaknesses. At an aggregated level, the Exchange was not able to foresee the implications of change or to forestall unfortunate consequences. This exposed the weakness of the criminal justice system and its failure to serve as a deterrent for abuse. This study, the only book to take full account of the documents held by the National Archives in relation to the Bodkin Committee, examines the stages by which share trading in the United Kingdom came to be a statutorily regulated activity and by which the London Stock Exchange moved from being antagonistic towards public regulation in 1914 to lobbying in 1944 for the new scheme to be implemented.

The passage of the National Currency Act of 1863 gave the United States its first uniform paper money, its first nationally chartered and supervised commercial banks, and its first modern regulatory agency: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The law marked a milestone in the development of the U.S. financial system and the modern administrative state. Yet its importance has been largely overlooked. Banking Modern America aims to address that gap. With its unique multidisciplinary approach that brings together scholars from disciplines including history, economics, the law, and finance, this book lends a new dimension to studying the origins and development of a system that touched key aspects of modern America. Chapters examine key episodes in the history of Federal banking, looking at the Civil War origins of the national banking system and the practical challenges of setting up a new system of money and banking. The essays in this volume explore the tensions that arose between bankers and Federal regulators, between governmental jurisdictions, and even between regulators themselves. This book will be essential reading for academics of banking and finance, regulation, numismatics and history, as well as professional economists, historians and policy makers interested in the history of the US financial system.

The idea that each country should have one currency is so deeply rooted in people’s minds that the possibility of multiple and concurrent currencies seems unthinkable. Monetary systems contribute to problems of high unemployment and social distress during financial and economic crisis, so reforms to increase the responsiveness and flexibility of the monetary system can be part of the solution.This book discusses ‘monetary plurality’, which is the circulation of several currencies at the same time and space. It addresses how multiple currency circuits work together and transform socio-economic systems, particularly by supporting economies at the local level of regions and cities. The book shows that monetary plurality has been ubiquitous throughout history and persists at present because the existence of several currency circuits facilitates small-scale production and trade in a way that no single currency can accomplish on its own.Monetary plurality can improve resilience, access to livelihoods and economic sustainability. At the same time, it introduces new risks in terms of economic governance, so it needs to be properly understood. The book analyses experiences of monetary plurality in Europe, Japan, and North and South America, written by researchers from East and West and from the global North and South. Replete with case studies, this book will prove a valuable addition to any student or practitioner’s bookshelf.

This book analyses the formation of the Spanish banking system. It provides a general overview of European financial systems in operation during the mid-nineteenth century, followed by a detailed analysis of the economic and institutional changes that gave rise to a new form of banking in Spain.The chapters analyse changes on banking regulation; study the social origin of banks’ promoters; investigate the economic results of banks; and evaluate the interaction between banks and the economy as a whole. Finally, the causes, extent and consequences of monetary plurality in Spain and its European context are discussed. As such, this book covers the gap that exists in the Spanish banking historiography. Until now only the Bank of Spain and its predecessors had been adequately examined. As the Bank of Spain acted mostly as the state’s financial agent, we know very little about private-sector financing. This text provides data and analysis for a more comprehensive view of early Spanish financial development in a comparative European framework. The Origins of Modern Banking in Spain should be considered essential reading for financial history students and scholars, as well as anybody interested in longview approaches to modern financial development.

This book examines the history of what became one of Portugal’s largest banks, the Caixa Geral de Depósitos. The bank was founded in 1876 by the state to run public deposits, and evolved into a savings bank, catering for both public and private deposits. Its history goes beyond the history of banking, as it ties in with the role of the state in the banking sector and financial markets. The book weaves in and out of different political and international contexts, following the many changes of the Portuguese political regime and of its interactions with the national and international economy. The most important lesson from the study is that publicly owned institutions can compete successfully with the private sector when they simultaneously cater for the interests of policy makers as well as those of the public, in this case, the depositors. The history of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos therefore shows how the state of a peripheral economy is capable of successfully managing a large financial institution when the right set of incentives is in place. This work will be a valuable resource for researchers and students of financial and economic history at both the advanced undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It will also provide interesting insights for practitioners in the financial sector.

In life, Benjamin Franklin sought to manage debt, organize credit, build capital and promote virtue. After death, he continued this work by leaving a codicil to his last will and testament, bequeathing £2,000 to Boston and Philadelphia. This study examines Franklin’s codicil and the financial history of America over the 200 years since his death.

This book gives a comprehensive account of the history and underlying economics of the modern art market in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain.

As a businessman, financier, diplomat, minister, and first Managing Director of the IMF, Camille Gutt (1884–1971) was involved in all the important financial negotiations between the 1920s and the 1950s. Using Gutt’s personal archives as his starting point, Crombois examines the rise and fall of financial diplomacy as a largely private enterprise.

This study is the first in a decade to provide an overview of banking in Brazil. It is argued that the big three federal banks have long provided essential policy alternatives and, since the liberalization of the industry in the 1990s, have realized competitive advantages over private and foreign banks.

Despite their economic and social importance, there are relatively few book-length studies of national insurance industries. This collection of nine essays by a group of international experts redresses this balance; providing an extensive geographical and thematic spread, linked via an extensive introduction.

Fiscal relations between states and cities in early modern Europe is a major concern for economic and financial historians. This collection of eleven essays is based on new research using documentary evidence from local and national archives from across Europe.

The papers in this edited volume discuss key elements of monetarism, including coin denominations, the role of bullion and case studies of substitute moneys.

Filling a significant gap in the historiography, the essays in this volume show that debt slavery has played a crucial role in the economic history of numerous societies which continues even today.