Questioning Credible Commitment: Perspectives on the Rise of Financial Capitalism (Macroeconomic Policy Making)

Cambridge University Press, 9/12/2013
EAN 9781107039018, ISBN10: 1107039010

Hardcover, 298 pages, 28.4 x 15.7 x 1.9 cm
Language: English

Financial capitalism emerged in a recognisably modern form in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Great Britain. Following the seminal work of Douglass C. North and Barry R. Weingast (1989), many scholars have concluded that the 'credible commitment' that was provided by parliamentary backing of government as a result of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 provided the key institutional underpinning on which modern public finances depend. In this book, a specially commissioned group of historians and economists examine and challenge the North and Weingast thesis to show that multiple commitment mechanisms were necessary to convince public creditors that sovereign debt constituted a relatively accessible, safe and liquid investment vehicle. Questioning Credible Commitment provides academics and practitioners with a broader understanding of the origins of financial capitalism, and, with its focus on theoretical and policy frameworks, shows the significance of the debate to current macroeconomic policy making.

1. Introduction D'Maris Coffman and Larry Neal
2. Could the crown credibly commit to respecting its charters? England, 1558–1640 Ron Harris
3. Contingent commitment
the development of English marine insurance in the context of New Institutional Economics, 1577–1720 Adrian Leonard
4. Credibility, transparency, accountability and the public credit under the Long Parliament and Commonwealth, 1643–53 D'Maris Coffman
5. Jurisdictional controversy and the credibility of common law Julia Rudolph
6. The importance of not defaulting
the significance of the election of 1710 James Macdonald
7. Financing and refinancing the War of the Spanish Succession, then refinancing the South Sea Company Ann M. Carlos, Erin K. Fletcher, Larry Neal and Kirsten Wandschneider
8. Sovereign debts, political structure, and institutional commitments in Italy, 1350–1700 Luciano Pezzolo
9. Bounded leviathan
fiscal constraints and financial development in the Early Modern Hispanic world Alejandra Irigoin and Regina Grafe
10. Court capitalism, illicit markets, and political legitimacy in eighteenth century France
the example of the salt and tobacco monopolies Michael Kwass
11. Institutions, deficits, and wars
the determinants of British government borrowing costs from the end of the seventeenth century to 1850 Nathan Sussman and Yishay Yafeh
Index.

Advance praise: 'Credible commitment is fundamental to finance. This volume of excellent essays by financial historians explores the salient institutional theories about the development of credible commitment. In doing so, it illuminates a watershed period in the emergence of the modern economy.' William N. Goetzmann, Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies, and Director, International Center for Finance, Yale University