Finance and Modernization

Gerald D Feldman was Professor in the Department of History, University of California, Berkeley, USA. Peter Hertner is Professor at the University of Halle, Germany.

• Contents: Introduction, Gerald D. Feldman and Peter Hertner; Part I Banking in Austria and Vienna: 'The bankers' view': Austria's economic and political development and the role of the banks, Dieter Stiefel; In the centre of Europe: Vienna as a financial hub, 1873-1913, Peter Eigner; Torn between monetary and financial stability: an analysis of selected episodes of Austrian central banking history, Aurel Schubert; Austrian banking between the 2 great depressions: the Creditenstalt from the 1870s to the 1930s, Fritz Weber. Part II Stock Markets, Railroad Finance and Information Networks: Efficiency of early German stock markets, 1836-1848, Hartmut Kiehling; The Balkan railways, international capital and banking from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of the First World War, Peter Hertner; Modern communication: the information network of N.M. Rothschild & Sons in 19th-century Europe, Rainer Liedtke. Part III Modernization of Banking in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Greece: The emergence of joint-stock companies during the industrial breakthrough in Sweden, Oskar Broberg; The modernization of a Dutch commercial bank: the Twentsche Bank, 1858-1931, Douwe C.J. van der Werf; Success and failure of modernization in post-war Greek banking: the case of Ergasias Bank, Margarita Dritsas. Part IV The Evolution of Modern Banking in the Far East: Patriotic banking and the modernization of China: the 'Banque industrielle de Chine', 1900-1922, Frank H.H. King; 2 centuries of apex banking: the State Bank of India and the evolution of modern banking in India, Abhik Ray; Closing remarks, Alice Teichova; Bibliography; Index.

'This is a fascinating book. It is not one for reading from cover to cover. But it contains much of interest to monetary and banking historians and will stimulate much further research; and it contains invaluable lessons for contemporary central bankers.' H-Soz-u-Kult ’In all, this book forms an important contribution to financial history because of its wide-ranging studies - in method, topic and geographical area - and because it deals with finance in the wider perspective of modernization.’ Bankhistorisches Archiv