Configuring Financial Markets in Preindustrial Europe

Secondary markets for public debt in Europe's most advanced preindustrial markets, Britain and the Dutch Republic, differed markedly. They were liquid in Britain, but not in the Republic. This article demonstrates that economic geography determined the shape of primary markets and the secondary markets that were based on them. Configuring financial markets in preindustrial Europe was thus not a uniform process leading to one ideal-type market structure. The development of markets with advanced financial institutions did not naturally produce liquid markets. While financial markets in preindustrial Europe were rooted in local circumstances, they functioned well while adapting to them.