13. Banks

Financial Markets (2011) (ECON 252) Banks are among our enduring of financial institutions. Their survival in so many different historical periods is testimony to their importance. Professor Shiller traces the origins of interest rates from Sumeria in 2000 BC, to ancient Greece and Rome, up to the Song Dynasty in China between the 10th and the 12th century. Subsequently, he looks at banking in Italy during the Renaissance and at the goldsmith bankers in 16th and 17th century England. Banks have survived so