Philip T. Hoffman, Gilles Postel-Vinay, and Jean-Laurent Rosenthal
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691182179
- eISBN:
- 9780691185057
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691182179.003.0003
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History
This chapter talks about how in the long buildup to the 1780s, the economy had been growing, along with the population, literacy rates, and inequality. At the same time, the volume of private lending ...
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This chapter talks about how in the long buildup to the 1780s, the economy had been growing, along with the population, literacy rates, and inequality. At the same time, the volume of private lending had soared, particularly in cities, and more so in Paris than anywhere else. But lending in 1780 was not simply a city affair, for loans were made throughout France. In fact, in 1780, eighty percent of borrowers still got their loans in communities of fewer than five thousand inhabitants. The volume of new debt was centralized in cities, even though loans themselves were still dispersed across small towns and villages. In short, the credit market was diverse, and it was changing, in ways that affected the types of loan contracts that lenders and borrowers chose and the services that notaries provided.Less
This chapter talks about how in the long buildup to the 1780s, the economy had been growing, along with the population, literacy rates, and inequality. At the same time, the volume of private lending had soared, particularly in cities, and more so in Paris than anywhere else. But lending in 1780 was not simply a city affair, for loans were made throughout France. In fact, in 1780, eighty percent of borrowers still got their loans in communities of fewer than five thousand inhabitants. The volume of new debt was centralized in cities, even though loans themselves were still dispersed across small towns and villages. In short, the credit market was diverse, and it was changing, in ways that affected the types of loan contracts that lenders and borrowers chose and the services that notaries provided.
Shuxia Jiang
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195380644
- eISBN:
- 9780199869329
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380644.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, International, South and East Asia
This chapter details the evolution of Chinese informal finance, describing the different types of informal finance that have eased constraints posed by the formal financial sector. It discusses why ...
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This chapter details the evolution of Chinese informal finance, describing the different types of informal finance that have eased constraints posed by the formal financial sector. It discusses why informal finance is important and how it has evolved, as well as what can be further done to improve informal finance. Informal finance has been rejuvenated since the reform and opening-up policy of the 1980s, as China has experienced the transition from a planned economy to a market economy, as well as the transition from single-ownership to multi-ownership and a rapid boom of the private economy. Because of the critical role of informal finance in the economy, the government should regard informal finance as a “weathervane” that can forecast the credit demand of the financial market; as an innovation, which can optimize the allocation of institutional resources; and as an induced institutional arrangement, which can fix up the problems brought about by state-oriented financing and institutional change.Less
This chapter details the evolution of Chinese informal finance, describing the different types of informal finance that have eased constraints posed by the formal financial sector. It discusses why informal finance is important and how it has evolved, as well as what can be further done to improve informal finance. Informal finance has been rejuvenated since the reform and opening-up policy of the 1980s, as China has experienced the transition from a planned economy to a market economy, as well as the transition from single-ownership to multi-ownership and a rapid boom of the private economy. Because of the critical role of informal finance in the economy, the government should regard informal finance as a “weathervane” that can forecast the credit demand of the financial market; as an innovation, which can optimize the allocation of institutional resources; and as an induced institutional arrangement, which can fix up the problems brought about by state-oriented financing and institutional change.
