Dark Matter Credit

How a vast network of shadow credit financed European growth long before the advent of bankingPrevailing wisdom dictates that, without banks, countries would be mired in poverty. Yet somehow much of Europe managed to grow rich long before the diffusion of banks. Dark Matter Credit draws on centuries of cleverly collected loan data from France t

“"This pathbreaking book will revolutionize how economists and historians think about banking, early modern France, and the connections between financial development and economic growth. Those who believe peer-to-peer lending is a twenty-first-century novelty enabled by Big Data and the Internet will be forced to think anew." --Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley, coauthor of How Global Currencies Work”

"Highly recommended for anyone interested in economic history, regardless of their disciplinary backgrounds and areas of specialization."---Francesca Trivellato, EH.Net
"Deeply researched, lean, and stimulating. . . . I was left with a reflection that is rare upon finishing an academic monograph: wishing it were longer."---Paul Cheney, Journal of Modern History

Philip T. Hoffman is the Rea A. and Lela G. Axline Professor of Business Economics and History at the California Institute of Technology. Gilles Postel-Vinay is professor emeritus at the Paris School of Economics. Jean-Laurent Rosenthal is the Rea A. and Lela G. Axline Professor of Business Economics and the Ronald and Maxine Linde Leadership Chair in the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the California Institute of Technology.

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