Cotton manufacturers as bankers: the textile trade and credit in spain (1840-1913)

Marc Prat Sabartes
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Marc Prat Sabartes: Universitat de Barcelona

No 189, Working Papers in Economics from Universitat de Barcelona. Espai de Recerca en Economia

Abstract: Historians claim that in the nineteenth century Catalan cotton manufacturers were giving informal credit to their clients, and were therefore unable to transfer this credit to the banking system. Such circumstances would have had a detrimental effect on the profitability of the cotton firms. Based on an analysis of the archives of several firms, as well as judicial and notary sources, we can confirm this state of affairs, but present a more optimistic interpretation of the system. Manufacturers were, in fact, acting as their customers bankers because they were in the best position to perform this function. They built up a good information structure, managed the credit risk efficiently and earned money from this activity.

JEL-codes: D83 G12 G21 L14 L22 N23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2008
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban, nep-his and nep-mfd
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