Palgrave Studies in Economic History

This book presents an original interpretation of the building history of London in terms of its evolving political economy. Each of the seven ages of the city from the Roman to the modern, are portrayed through their monumental buildings, concentrating in particular on their symbolic purpose as expressions of the status and authority of those who built them. The concluding synthesis explores how these successive layers of building can be seen to be a product of the evolving class structure, the changing distribution of wealth, and the shifting struggle for political power within the city and the nation. Although the focus is on London, the analysis is applicable to any urbanized economy at any stage of development.

This book offers unique insight into London as a landscape of power and as a city that has assumed a succession of identities over the last two millennia. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in urban economy, economic history, and thepolitical economy.

This book offers a comprehensive economic history of emerging market economies post-WWII and identifies a complex web of sustainability problems that face the EMEs going forward. It seeks to present a truly global perspective on the development of EMEs and the long-term trends that have brought EMEs to a critical economic juncture.

The first section of the book charts how EMEs became tightly integrated into the global economy at rapid pace, analysing economic achievements as well as imbalances and sustainability issues that have been generated over time. It considers how EMEs have withstood episodes of complex structural transitions and financial shocks, and offers comparative perspectives on patterns of dispersion within the EME landscape from the end of WWII to the present. The second part of the book seeks to understand how EMEs might cope with the volatility brought about by a new ‘age of disruption’ defined by major structural challenges to the neo-liberal economic order. It considers which EMEs are best positioned to respond to issues of economic inequality, financial excess, technological disruption and climate change, what a global historical understanding of the EMEs can offer to policymakers, and the impact on the EME investment landscape. This book will be of interest to a broad audience including researchers of economic history and political economy, as well as policymakers, investment professionals, and the general reader interested in global economic development.

This book explains how Amsterdam financiers played a much more important role in financing the Louisiana Cession than they are credited for. Drawing on hitherto overlooked Dutch archival sources, alongside American, French and British archival sources, this book shows that in 1803 the international financial order was not yet centered on London, but that the financing of the Louisiana Cession initiated a shift of this order from Dutch to British firms, which would become more apparent after the Napoleonic Wars.

This book examines the strategies and operations of the two main banking houses, Hope & Co. of Amsterdam and Francis Baring & Co. of London, involved in financing the cession of this territory from France to the United States. This book advances the scholarship not just on the Louisiana Cession, but also on international finance, the financial “sinews” of state power, Great Power diplomacy, the Atlantic Revolutions, and the Napoleonic Wars.  It will be of interest to researchers and advanced students in all of these fields, at the intersection of history, politics, and economics.

This book addresses a little-studied area of the history of tourism, religious tourism, and pilgrimage and introduces a comprehensive economic analysis of their development from elite pursuits to a mass phenomenon. Focusing on Rome, Lourdes, and the Holy Land as destinations, the book showcases religious tourism as a key precursory factor in mass tourism in Italy and Europe. Departing from conventional historiographical timeframes, the authors demonstrate that the surge in tourism during the Italian “economic miracle” did not arise ex novo at that time but was part of a longer process of transformation originating prior to the Second World War. Diverse factors are discussed such as the social and economic role of the Catholic Church, its relationship to tourism, revolutions in transport technologies, rising wages, and increasing leisure time. Key questions are explored regarding religious travel (who, when, how) and how it gained momentum in the first half of the twentieth century. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished sources, many from the Vatican Archives, the book uncovers new religious, social, and cross-cultural perspectives and contexts for studying the economic history of tourism.