Published August 30, 2017
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The Political Economy of Government Debt in England (1693-1800): War, Liquidity, and Institutional Innovation
- Creators
- Szakaly, Kristin E.
Abstract
Economists and historians have offered several explanations for the significant fluctuations in 1 8th century British government interest rates. This article discusses their short-comings and supports the thesis that the fluctuations in interest rates were largely a function of England's participation in large-scale wars. The risks facing the government-being deposed in the event the war is lost or defaulting on loans because of a shortfall in revenues-hurt their "credit worthiness" in the eyes of investors. Thus, lenders demanded high interest rates to compensate themselves for investing in risky government loans.
Additional Information
I would like to thank my thesis advisor, D. Roderick Kiewiet, for his many helpful comments, and Lance Davis, Philip Hoffman, and Kenneth Sokoloff who encouraged me to research this topic and offered useful suggestions and criticisms on the countless number of earlier drafts of this paper. I am also grateful for advice from Eric Hughson. Peter Bossaerts and Jeffrey Dubin.Attached Files
Submitted - sswp793.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 80926
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20170829-152307489
- Created
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2017-08-30Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2019-10-03Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Social Science Working Papers
- Series Name
- Social Science Working Paper
- Series Volume or Issue Number
- 794