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Italian city-states and financial evolution

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  • FRATIANNI, MICHELE
  • SPINELLI, FRANCO

Abstract

The term financial revolution has been abused in the literature. Revolution connotes a sharp and unique break from the past that should stand up to careful historical scrutiny, but in fact it does not. Evolution describes financial history better than revolutions. We compare the classic ‘financial revolutions’ with the financial innovations of Genoa, Venice and Florence in the Quattrocento and Cinquecento and the upshot is that these Italian city-states – the two maritime cities more than Florence – had developed many of the features that were to be found later on in the Netherlands, England and the United States. The importance of the early financial innovators has been eclipsed by the fact that these city-states did not survive politically. Instead, the innovations were absorbed in the long chain of financial evolution and, in the process, lost the identity of their creators.

Suggested Citation

  • Fratianni, Michele & Spinelli, Franco, 2006. "Italian city-states and financial evolution," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 257-278, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:ereveh:v:10:y:2006:i:03:p:257-278_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Deng, Hanzhi, 2021. "The merit of misfortune: Taiping Rebellion and the rise of indirect taxation in modern China, 1850s-1900s," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108564, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Karin Haldrup, 2017. "On security of collateral in Danish mortgage finance: a formula of property rights, incentives and market mechanisms," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 1-29, February.
    3. Michele Fratianni, 2009. "The Evolutionary Chain of International Financial Centers," Springer Books, in: Alberto Zazzaro & Michele Fratianni & Pietro Alessandrini (ed.), The Changing Geography of Banking and Finance, edition 1, chapter 12, pages 251-276, Springer.
    4. Andrianova, Svetlana & Demetriades, Panicos & Xu, Chenggang, 2011. "Political Economy Origins of Financial Markets in Europe and Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 686-699, May.
    5. Goodhart, C. A. E. & Masciandaro, Donato & Ugolini, Stefano, 2021. "Pandemic recession, helicopter money and central banking: Venice, 1630," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108555, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Diego Puga & Daniel Trefler, 2014. "International Trade and Institutional Change: Medieval Venice’s Response to Globalization," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(2), pages 753-821.
    7. Mark Koyama, 2008. "Evading the 'Taint of Usury' Complex Contracts and Segmented Capital Markets," Economics Series Working Papers 412, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    8. Matías Vernengo, 2018. "Classical Political Economy and the Evolution of Central Banks: Endogenous Money and the Fiscal-Military State," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 50(4), pages 660-667, December.
    9. Chilosi, David, 2014. "Risky Institutions: Political Regimes and the Cost of Public Borrowing in Early Modern Italy," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 887-915, September.
    10. Jan Luiten van Zanden & Jaco Zuijderduijn & Tine De Moor, 2012. "Small is beautiful: the efficiency of credit markets in the late medieval Holland," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 16(1), pages 3-22, February.
    11. Masciandaro, Donato & Goodhart, Charles & Ugolini, Stefano, 2021. "Pandemic recession and helicopter money: Venice, 1629–1631," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(3), pages 300-318, December.
    12. Deng, Hanzhi, 2021. "The merit of misfortune: Taiping Rebellion and the rise of indirect taxation in modern China, 1850s-1900s," Economic History Working Papers 108564, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    13. Schmelzing, Paul, 2017. "Staff Working Paper No. 686: Eight centuries of the risk-free rate: bond market reversals from the Venetians to the ‘VaR shock’," Bank of England working papers 686, Bank of England.
    14. Stephen Quinn, 2008. "Securitization of Sovereign Debt: Corporations as a Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism in Britain, 1694-1750," Working Papers 200701, Texas Christian University, Department of Economics.
    15. Stefano Ugolini, 2011. "What do we really know about the long-term evolution of central banking? Evidence from the past, insights for the present," Working Paper 2011/15, Norges Bank.
    16. Carmen Vargas Pérez & Juan Luis Peñaloza Figueroa, 2018. "Tracking the New Demand for Justice in the Big Data Ecosystem," European Journal of Economics and Business Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 4, January -.
    17. Donato Masciandaro & Davide Romelli & Stefano Ugolini, 2023. "Fiscal Dominance, Monetary Policy and Exchange Rates: Lessons from Early-Modern Venice," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 23205, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.

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