International Government Finance and the Amsterdam Capital Market, 1740–1815

During the eighteenth century European governments began systematically using an international credit structure whose centre was the Amsterdam capital market. This book reconstructs that system and surveys its principal effects on the European and especially the Dutch economies. Eighteenth-century states borrowed chiefly to finance wars and, increasingly toward the century's end, debts from earlier wars. Military and naval spending and debt service together consumed up to eighty percent of peacetime revenues and more in war. Borrowing on international markets stabilised previously disruptive deficit financing techniques and moderated the economic consequences of sharply irregular war spending. This development however, eased the problems of war-making more than it developed national economies or enhanced prosperity. The Dutch, heretofore seen as having squandered the advantage of cheap credit, actually faced the difficult problem of finding productive uses for their savings at satisfactory returns. Cover......Page 1 Frontmatter......Page 2 Contents......Page 8 List of tables and charts......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Financing deficits in the eighteenth century......Page 14 Format of exposition......Page 17 The setting of borrowing......Page 20 The bequest of commerce and commercial finance......Page 41 Government finance......Page 48 3 - Public credit in the Dutch Republic......Page 81 Decentralization and its consequences......Page 82 Borrowing formats......Page 86 Myth and reality in the public's appraisal of credit worthiness......Page 89 Public finance and the Dutch economy......Page 93 The period of British domination......Page 96 The period of dispersal......Page 107 Resources......Page 114 Fiscal alternatives......Page 122 National debts......Page 127 Great Britain......Page 131 Austria......Page 138 Denmark......Page 148 Sweden......Page 156 Russia......Page 165 Poland......Page 171 Spain......Page 177 France......Page 186 The United States......Page 197 Contraction in Amsterdam......Page 207 Pandemic of bankruptcy on the continent......Page 213 9 - Economic consequences of lending to foreign governments......Page 229 Financial flows and economic flows......Page 231 Capital abundance and a modern sector of industry in the Republic......Page 236 Erosion of the Dutch capital stock......Page 252 Abbreviations......Page 262 Notes......Page 264 List of sources and works cited......Page 348 Index......Page 365 Cover 1 Frontmatter 2 Contents 8 List of tables and charts 10 Acknowledgments 12 1 - Introduction 14 Financing deficits in the eighteenth century 14 Format of exposition 17 The setting of borrowing 20 2 - The Amsterdam capital market 41 The bequest of commerce and commercial finance 41 Government finance 48 3 - Public credit in the Dutch Republic 81 Decentralization and its consequences 82 Borrowing formats 86 Myth and reality in the public's appraisal of credit worthiness 89 Public finance and the Dutch economy 93 4 - Supply and demand patterns 96 The period of British domination 96 The period of dispersal 107 5 - International government finance 114 Resources 114 Fiscal alternatives 122 National debts 127 6 - The debtor states: I 131 Great Britain 131 Austria 138 Denmark 148 Sweden 156 7 - The debtor states: II 165 Russia 165 Poland 171 Spain 177 France 186 The United States 197 8 - The collapse of solvency 207 Contraction in Amsterdam 207 Pandemic of bankruptcy on the continent 213 9 - Economic consequences of lending to foreign governments 229 Financial flows and economic flows 231 Capital abundance and a modern sector of industry in the Republic 236 Erosion of the Dutch capital stock 252 Abbreviations 262 Notes 264 List of sources and works cited 348 Index 365 9780521101103 James C. Riley. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 336-352.