Prometheus Shackled: Goldsmith Banks and England's Financial Revolution after 1700

After 1688, Britain underwent a revolution in public finance, and the cost of borrowing declined sharply.Leading scholars have argued that easier credit for the government, made possible by better property-rights protection, lead to a rapid expansion of private credit.The Industrial Revolution, according to this view, is the result of the preceding revolution in public finance. In Prometheus Shackled, prominent economic historians Peter Temin and Hans-Joachim Voth examine this hypothesis using new, detailed archival data from 18th century banks.They conclude the opposite: the financial revolution led to an explosion of public debt, but it stifled private credit.This led to markedly slower growth in the English economy.Temin and Voth collected detailed data from several goldsmith banks-Child's, Gosling's, Freame and Gould, Hoare's, and Duncombe and Kent.The excellent records from Hoare's, founded by Sir Richard Hoare in 1672, offer particular insight. Numerous entrants into the banking