Preliminary Programme

In contrast with the tradition of Western Europe where the Mount of Piety has a long history, in Romania this kind of institution designed to help the poor people was created only at the beginning of the 20th Centuries. The first initiatives came from Transylvanian economists who were connected to the Western practises and traditions. Many of them were educated at Viena, Budapest or Berlin. The first bank was founded in 1905 in Sibiu by Corneliu Diaconovici one of the most known economist of the that time. Two years later, he came to Bucharest and founded a new branch. The mission of the bank was to help those who were in an economic precarious situation, half of its profit being donated to the Red Cross. The bank operated until December 1916 when the Romanian government was forced to leave the Capital as the result of German occupation. All the possession of the Mount of Piety were moved to Russia, along with the entire Romanian treasury. The breaking of diplomatic relations between Romania and Russia has led to the seizure of all Romanian assets and those of the Mount of Piety were not excepted. Despite the loss of its capital the Mount of Piety take bake the activity until the end of the Second World War. (Show less)

The seventeenth century is commonly designated as the Dutch Golden Age. This paper, however, will examine the losers of late 17th century Amsterdam rather than its successful businessmen. The city’s aldermen had created a specialized sub-court or ‘Chamber of Insolvencies’ in 1643. This Desolate Boedelskamer treated and administered all insolvency cases through a set of procedures derived from the Roman Law – inspired benefice of cessie van goede (from cessio bonorum). This allowed honest bankrupts to cede their goods to their common creditors, in order to escape debt imprisonment.

If an insolvent was granted the benefice of cessie, he or she would have to provide the commissaries with an overview of debts and possessions. From 1689 onwards, these so called Staten der Cessionanten have been preserved in the archives of the Desolate Boedelskamer. This intriguing series of documents allows to obtain an overview of all applicants for cessie in those years, as well as the reasons why they ended up in this desperate situation.

This paper will examine insolvency cases from an original perspective, focusing on people and their personal stories rather than law and procedures. Who were these applicants for cessie van goede? Why did they end up in such unfortunate situations? Did insolvency primarily result from external factors, such as war or bad harvests, or were personal choices the most important fail factor? Through a close examination of a group of these Amsterdam insolvents between 1689 and 1700, I will argue that the way in which the local authorities applied the benefice of cessio bonorum might be interpreted as a form of social policy for honest insolvents. (Show less)

In this paper, we identify the effect of austerity-induced reductions in poor relief on subsequent criminal activity, using the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 (the so-called New Poor Law) as a historical quasi-experiment. With newly digitised English and Welsh county-level data for the period 1820-1842, we document a strong first-stage effect of the reform: in counties where per capita poor relief spending had previously been relatively high, levels of spending drop more sharply after the New Poor Law was enacted in 1834.

We relate this drop in per capita poor relief spending to subsequent criminal activity, using the 1834 reform as a first stage in an instrumental variable difference-in-differences framework. To measure criminal activity, we first draw on aggregate county-level measures of overall crime, and document an increase in criminal offences committed per capita in counties worst-hit by the austerity measures induced by the reform.

To further understand the mechanisms underlying this result, we digitise rich individual-level trial records, which provide us with precise details about the types of offences that drive the overall upswing in criminal activity. Using these records, we additionally track which offences proceed from trials to sentences (as well as the type of sentence), which allows us to address concerns about potential contemporaneous changes to the justice system.

Our contribution with this paper is twofold. First, we bring novel individual- and county-level data to bear on the ongoing historical discourse on the Poor Laws. We therefore aim to contribute to economic and social historians' understanding of this important period of British history. Second, beyond the project's historical setting, a causal estimate of the effect of austerity-induced reductions in poor relief on crime is of great interest to present-day policymakers. The combination of novel historical data with modern quasi-experimental econometric techniques is uniquely equipped to make such a dual contribution. (Show less)

The constitution of savings, as well as the beginning of mutualist practices in urban contexts have been the subject of extensive analysis by historiography. All through Europe – although at different rhythms – there was a phenomenon of capital accumulation by charity households which were used as reinvestment funds. In Portugal, charity was mainly performed by “Misericórdias”, laic brotherhoods established in all the extent of the Empire, working as a network, and financially supported by post-mortem donations, especially from overseas fortunes. In the 17th century, their banking performances assumed an important vector, by entering the market of microcredit. In Porto, the second largest Portuguese city and an important Atlantic seaport, the Misericórdia became the main credit institution, contracting loans with citizens, the city council, local monasteries and even financing the crown. This work aims to assess Porto’s credit market based on the analysis of the capital accumulated in the main charity house – the “Misericórdia”, as well as its profitability, in the early modern age. Focusing in the 17th century, the work proposes to analyse the debtors’ profile, reasons for indebtedness, contract conditions and debt payment trends. It is further considered the weight that credit assumed in modern age societies, whether in family budgets, for daily subsistence, or commercial enterprises. (Show less)