Capital in the Fifteenth Century: A Study of Interest Rates in Stockholm during the Late Middle Ages

Gabriel V Rindborg

No 2sbvc_v1, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Interest rates are central to understanding economic development and conditions, not just in the present, but throughout history. Yet surprisingly little research has focused on medieval interest rates. This essay demonstrates, through an analysis of Stockholm’s jordeböcker (land registers) and tänkeböcker (court records) from 1420 to 1520, that it is entirely possible to calculate interest rates from these sources, and argues that further research into historical interest rates is essential for advancing materialist historiography. The study reveals a consistent norm of 5% interest within the source material, rates that far outpaced inflation during the period. This finding reinforces the view that capital, whatever the prevailing ideological constraints, has an inherent tendency toward concentration.

Date: 2026-03-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg and nep-his
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://osf.io/download/69c94ba30267ee667056df3f/

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:2sbvc_v1

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/2sbvc_v1

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SocArXiv from Center for Open Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by OSF ().