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An experiment in banking the poor: the Irish Mont-de-Piété, c. 1830–18501

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  • McLaughlin, Eoin

Abstract

Continental pawnbroking institutions, Monts-de-Piété, were introduced in Ireland in the 1830s and 1840s but did not establish a permanent status. Irish social reformers believed that a Mont-de-Piété system would reduce the cost of borrowing for the poor and also fund a social welfare network, thus negating the need for an Irish Poor Law. This article explores the introduction of the Mont-de-Piété charitable pawnbroker in Ireland and outlines some reasons for its failure. It uses the market incumbents, private pawnbrokers, as a base group in a comparative study and asks why the Monts-de-Piété were the unsuccessful ones of the two. The article finds that the public nature and monopoly status of Monts-de-Piété on the Continent realised economies of scale and gave preferential interest rates on capital, as well as enabling the Mont-de-Piété loan book to be cross-subsidised. These conditions were not replicated in Ireland, hence the failure of the Monts-de-Piété there.

Suggested Citation

  • McLaughlin, Eoin, 2013. "An experiment in banking the poor: the Irish Mont-de-Piété, c. 1830–18501," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 49-72, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:fihrev:v:20:y:2013:i:01:p:49-72_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Eoin McLaughlin & Rowena Pecchenino, 2022. "Fringe banking and financialization: Pawnbroking in pre‐famine and famine Ireland," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(3), pages 903-931, August.
    2. Matthias Blum & Christopher L. Colvin & Laura McAtackney & Eoin McLaughlin, 2017. "Women of an uncertain age: quantifying human capital accumulation in rural Ireland in the nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 70(1), pages 187-223, February.

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