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Liquidating government debt and creating a secondary asset market: Trading patterns, market behavior and prices on government liabilities in Sweden, c. 1719–1765
Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Swedish Defense University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Örebro University, School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9050-164x
2023 (English)In: Financial History Review, ISSN 0968-5650, E-ISSN 1474-0052, Vol. 30, no 3, p. 355-379Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article studies a previously unknown asset market in eighteenth-century Sweden. It emerged as a result of a partial default in 1719, when large amounts of recently released fiat coins were converted into government liabilities. These could only be redeemed as a customs duty on international trade, the licent. As merchants had to acquire such assets to conduct their trade, tens of thousands of transactions were carried out on a secondary market over a period for over 45 years. Networks of local merchants bought assets from initial holders and sold them on to intermediaries or merchants, who deposited the liabilities with a newly established government agency, the Debt Office. Here, hundreds of account holders could transfer the value of their deposits between them. When a licent payment was due, the amount was deducted from the merchant's account. Prices on the liabilities were low and sometimes volatile, bu the long-term trend was rising. We have distinguished three types of market participants: a small group of very active users, most of them professional dealers or brokers; merchants who traded on a regular basis as they needed to pay the licent, or when a favorable opportunity appeared; and finally, those who traded sporadically. The emergence of this market was part of a financial expansion that occurred in many European countries at the same time, the closest equivalent being the segmented default in France after the abolition of John Law's system. This study aims to broaden our understanding of eighteenth-century developments, which have rarely been studied in a semi-peripheral European economy.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Cambridge University Press, 2023. Vol. 30, no 3, p. 355-379
Keywords [en]
Sweden, eighteenth century, default, liquidation, asset market, emerging markets, paper money, financial development
National Category
History
Research subject
History
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-112937DOI: 10.1017/S0968565024000015ISI: 001198246500004OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-112937DiVA, id: diva2:1849304
Funder
Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation and Tore Browaldh Foundation, P18-0160Available from: 2024-04-05 Created: 2024-04-05 Last updated: 2024-04-15Bibliographically approved

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Winton, Patrik

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