We use security-level data from the Investors Monthly Manual (IMM) to construct capital-weighted return indexes for the London Stock Exchange over the period 1870-1929. We find a significant and persistent equity risk premium of 3.7% over commercial paper and 4.5% over long-term government...

Chapter 1. Introduction: The Development of Trade in the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East (1st-13th Century) -- Chapter 2. Lyon Trade: From Fairs to Money Markets (13th -14th Century) -- Chapter 3. Bruges: The Cradle of Market Capitalism (13th-15th Century) -- Chapter 4. Antwerp: The...

[...]The branch prices we study are less limited. Increasingly,banks are entering new markets by buying one or morebranches from other banks (Benz 1998). The price of a givenbranch should depend on the branch’s expected profits, andexpected profits, in turn, depend on competition. All...

"A compelling account of how markets really govern themselves, and why they often baffle and outrage outsiders. One of the reasons many people believe financial markets are lawless and irrational--and rigged--is that they follow two sets of rules. The official rules, set by law or by the heads...