This volume addresses aspects of banking in 20th-century European market economies. It examines the historical role of banks in using domestic and foreign financial resources, showing how from the 1880s onwards, banks became an integral part of the capital market in continental Europe. The study analyzes the relationship between banks and industry, and the impacts on inflation and the crisis-prone interwar period.

An account of the rise of banking since the Middle Ages and its place in the modern international economy, first published in 1997.

"Universal Banking: Financial System Design Reconsidered is the product of a conference held under the auspices of the New York University Salomon Center in February 1995. The conference was based upon the work of academic observers of the banking industry in the United States, Europe, and Japan."--BOOK JACKET.

Since the nineteenth century, there has been an accepted distinction between financial systems that separate commercial and investment banking and those that do not. This comprehensive collection aims to establish how and why financial systems develop, and how knowledge of financial differentiation in the nineteenth century may afford insight into the development of contemporary banking structure. This book poses a systematic challenge to Alexander Gerschenkron's 1950s thesis on universal banks. With contributions from leading scholars such as Ranald Michie and Jaime Reis, this well written book provides solid and intriguing arguments throughout.

The financial crisis of 2008 aroused widespread interest in banking and financial history among policy makers, academics, journalists, and even bankers, in addition to the wider public. References in the press to the term 'Great Depression' spiked after the failure of Lehman Brothers in November 2008, with similar surges in references to 'economic history' at various times during the financial turbulence. In an attempt to better understand the magnitude of the shock, there was a demand for historical parallels. How severe was the financial crash? Was it, in fact, the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression? Were its causes unique or part of a well-known historical pattern? And have financial crises always led to severe depressions? Historical reflection on the recent financial crises and the long-term development of the financial system go hand in hand. This volume provides the material for such a reflection by presenting the state of the art in banking and financial history. Nineteen highly regarded experts present chapters on the economic and financial side of banking and financial activities, primarily though not solely in advanced economies, in a long-term comparative perspective. In addition to paying attention to general issues, not least those related to theoretical and methodological aspects of the discipline, the volume approaches the banking and financial world from four distinct but interrelated angles: financial institutions, financial markets, financial regulation, and financial crises.