Avant-propos. La dette publique sous le scalpel des historiens

Public debt as private liquidity: the Poincaré experience (1926–1929)

“…Second, by studying the impact of public debt management on banks, this article is related to another strand of the literature focusing on French banks in the interwar period. This literature has emphasized the dramatic change in the relationship between the State and banks that occurred in the 1920s, notably through the supply of short-term public debt that banks massively purchased (Blancheton 2001; Feiertag 2003; Quennouelle-Corre 2013; Duchaussoy and Monnet 2019). Nevertheless, this short episode of public debt restructuring and private credit boom (Teneul 1961; Saint Marc 1983) is an exception to this narrative.…”

“…In 1919, French public debt amounted to 32 years’ worth of tax revenue (End 2019) and had a very different composition compared to the pre-World War I period. Before 1914, France relied mostly on long-term bonds; after 1918, short-term debt played a considerable role (Quennouelle-Corre 2013). The post-war period did not witness any dramatic change in this debt structure, partly because of the political instability that impeded any consistent reform of public finance.…”

Did the Romans Have a Future?

“… 35 In general, see Andreau et al 2006; on the specifics, see Mann, ‘The European dynamic, III: international capitalism and organic national states, 1477–1760’, in 2012: ch. 14 (450–99); Stasavage 2011: 29–32, with the data listed in his table 2.1, p. 31 and 2015: 526–8; see Goldthwaite, ‘Government finance’, in 2011: 230–62, for the case of Florence.…”

“…They seem, rather, to be phenomena that are networked and causally interdependent. On the emergence of the concept and practice of the national debt and the attendant institutions, see Molho and Harmon in Andreau et al 2006.…”