Premodern Financial Systems: A Historical Comparative sStudy describes (in quantitative terms whenever possible) the financial superstructure, such as the method of financing the government, and links it to the essential characteristics of the infrastructure of nearly a dozen societies ranging from Athens in the late fifth century BC to the United Provinces in the mid-seventeenth century. The main features of the financial superstructures discussed are the monetary system, the types of financial instruments and institutions, interest rates, and the methods of financing agriculture, non-agricultural business, households, foreign trade, and government. Aspects of the infrastructures covered include population, urbanization, prices, national output, wealth, and their sectoral and size distribution.
