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Dissertation Information for Joseph James Ryan Jr.

NAME:
- Joseph James Ryan Jr.

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (2007)

ADVISORS:
- William R. Summerhill

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Jean-Laurent Rosenthal
- Mary Yeager
- Kevin Terraciano

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Credit where credit is due: Lending and borrowing in Rio de Janeiro, 1802--1900

Abstract: The literature on finance-led growth would predict that the credit market in nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro was a small, backwards enterprise until banks emerged mid century. A detailed examination of debt contracts recorded in the notary office of Rio de Janeiro challenges that assumption. Growth in the non-bank market for credit between 1820 and 1900 outpaced population growth and was largely unaffected by the rise of bank lending. The market experienced broad improvements in overall interest rates, loan lengths and geographic spread. These improvements occurred simultaneously with the emergence of banks but lasted throughout the second half of the century--even though banks left the mortgage market almost completely after 1890. Banks, for their part, only made mortgage loans when the government provided strong fiscal incentives. So in Rio it was not the case that banks emerged to stimulate the need for credit. On the contrary, they failed to meet a need that contemporaries vociferously complained was not being met. The data reveal that the improvements in the terms of credit may have been related to the government's stimulus package in the 1860s and/or credit rationing by non-bank lenders. When government actions in the 1860s lowered risk for the market as a whole, all lenders and borrowers benefited. When the government tried to direct credit to coffee, banking collapsed. The timing of banks in the case of Rio de Janeiro is less important than the form and function of government fiscal policies. When done poorly these policies, together with extreme wealth inequality, created a strong drag on the regional economy and delayed economic growth.

MPACT Scores for Joseph James Ryan Jr.

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-08-06 09:30:44

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Students under Joseph James Ryan Jr.

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None