Abstract
A novel series of interest rates paid by the Corporation of London shows that interest rates in London declined by 350 basis points during the seventeenth century. The decline followed a similar pattern in Europe. Records from the Corporation’s archive provide evidence for financial development: an increase in the number and volume of debt instruments, an increase in the number of lenders, and the development of a secondary market. Econometric analysis establishes that increasing the debt instruments’ liquidity contributed to the convergence of interest rates between London and Amsterdam.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 480-515 |
Number of pages | 36 |
Journal | Journal of Economic History |
Volume | 82 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 26 Jun 2022 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Economic History Association