A History of Interest Rates

A History of Interest Rates presents a very readable account of interest rate trends and lending practices over four millennia of economic history. Despite the paucity of data prior to the Industrial Revolution, authors Homer and Sylla provide a highly detailed analysis of money markets and borrowing practices in major economies. Underlying the analysis is their assertion that "the free market long-term rates of interest for any industrial nation, properly charted, provide a sort of fever chart of the economic and political health of that nation." Given the enormous volatility of rates in the 20th century, this implies we're living in age of political and economic excesses that are reflected in massive interest rate swings. Gain more insight into this assertion by ordering a copy of this book today.

SIDNEY HOMER, who died in 1983, was a limited partner in Salomon Brothers and was the general partner in charge of the firm's bond market research department. He is best known for his pioneering and analytical works of bond market history and the economic forces that drive bond market trends.

RICHARD SYLLA is Henry Kaufman Professor of the History of Financial Institutions and Markets and a Professor of Economics, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation at NYU's Stern School of Business. He is a past president of the Economic History Association and is a trustee of the Museum of American Financial History.

Foreword by Dr. Henry Kaufman.

Preface to the Fourth Edition.

Summary Tables.

Summary Charts.

Introduction.

Part One: Ancient Times.

1. Prehistoric and Primitive Credit and Interest.

2. Mesopotamia: Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria.

3. Greece.

4.Rome.

5. A Summary and Analysis of Ancient Interest Rates.

Part Two: Medieval and Renaissance Europe.

6. Usury Doctrines and Their Effect on European Credit Forms and Interest.

7. The Dark Ages.

8. Late Medieval Times.

9. The Renaissance.

10. A Summary and Analysis of Medieval and Renaissance Interest Rates in Western Europe.

Part Three: Modern Europe and North America to 1900.

11. England in the Eighteenth Century.

12. Europe in the Eighteenth Century.

13. England in the Nineteenth Century.

14. France in the Nineteenth Century.

15. Other European Countries in the Nineteenth Century.

16. The United States in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.

Part Four: Europe and North America Since 1900.

17. The United States in the Twentieth Century: 1900–1945.

18. The United States in the Twentieth Century: 1946–1990.

19. England in the Twentieth Century.

20. Europe in the Twentieth Century: France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy.

21. Europe in the Twentieth Century: Switzerland, Austria, Scandinavia, Ireland, Iberia, and Turkey.

22. Canada in the Twentieth Century.

23. Summary and Analysis of Interest Rates in Europe and North America Since 1700.

Part Five: Other Countries and the 1990’s.

24. Japan.

25. The Old Sterling Area: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Pakistan.

26. Russia.

27. China.

28. Latin America.

29. Turn of the Millennium: 1990–2005.

Notes.

Index.

What is included with this book?

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A History of Interest Rates

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials