This book examines financial markets from a historical perspective.
Bringing together contributions from leading historians of economic
thought, economists and economic historians, it offers an integrated
approach and reflects on the workings of financial markets, their impact
on and relation with the rest of the economy and how their role was and
is understood by economics. The contributions cover topics such as
classical and modern economic thinking on financial markets and
institutions, as well as financial models and innovations, and also
present case studies on financial history and on policy issues. The
historical perspective leads to a representation of markets not as
abstract and timeless mechanisms but as institutions populated by a
diversity of agents, subject to rules and customs, and influenced by
scientific developments and economic theories.