A History of Interest Rates presents a very readable account of interest rate trends and lending practices over four millennia of economic history. Despite the paucity of data prior to the Industrial Revolution, authors Homer and Sylla provide a highly detailed analysis of money markets and borrowing practices in major economies. Underlying the analysis is their assertion that "the free market long-term rates of interest for any industrial nation, properly charted, provide a sort of fever chart of the economic and political health of that nation." Given the enormous volatility of rates in the...

This work contains primary research texts regarding two centuries of the development of corporate finance in the US and Great Britain. It is designed to help scholars, financial managers, and public policymakers to investigate the historical background of issues in contemporary corporate finance.