Author: Charles R. Geisst
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812207505
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 396
Book Description
The practice of charging interest on loans has been controversial since it was first mentioned in early recorded history. Lending is a powerful economic tool, vital to the development of society but it can also lead to disaster if left unregulated. Prohibitions against excessive interest, or usury, have been found in almost all societies since antiquity. Whether loans were made in kind or in cash, creditors often were accused of beggar-thy-neighbor exploitation when their lending terms put borrowers at risk of ruin. While the concept of usury reflects transcendent notions of fairness, its definition has varied over time and place: Roman law distinguished between simple and compound interest, the medieval church banned interest altogether, and even Adam Smith favored a ceiling on interest. But in spite of these limits, the advantages and temptations of lending prompted financial innovations from margin investing and adjustable-rate mortgages to credit cards and microlending. In Beggar Thy Neighbor, financial historian Charles R. Geisst tracks the changing perceptions of usury and debt from the time of Cicero to the most recent financial crises. This comprehensive economic history looks at humanity's attempts to curb the abuse of debt while reaping the benefits of credit. Beggar Thy Neighbor examines the major debt revolutions of the past, demonstrating that extensive leverage and debt were behind most financial market crashes from the Renaissance to the present day. Geisst argues that usury prohibitions, as part of the natural law tradition in Western and Islamic societies, continue to play a key role in banking regulation despite modern advances in finance. From the Roman Empire to the recent Dodd-Frank financial reforms, usury ceilings still occupy a central place in notions of free markets and economic justice.
Beggar Thy Neighbor
Author: Charles R. Geisst
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812207505
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 396
Book Description
The practice of charging interest on loans has been controversial since it was first mentioned in early recorded history. Lending is a powerful economic tool, vital to the development of society but it can also lead to disaster if left unregulated. Prohibitions against excessive interest, or usury, have been found in almost all societies since antiquity. Whether loans were made in kind or in cash, creditors often were accused of beggar-thy-neighbor exploitation when their lending terms put borrowers at risk of ruin. While the concept of usury reflects transcendent notions of fairness, its definition has varied over time and place: Roman law distinguished between simple and compound interest, the medieval church banned interest altogether, and even Adam Smith favored a ceiling on interest. But in spite of these limits, the advantages and temptations of lending prompted financial innovations from margin investing and adjustable-rate mortgages to credit cards and microlending. In Beggar Thy Neighbor, financial historian Charles R. Geisst tracks the changing perceptions of usury and debt from the time of Cicero to the most recent financial crises. This comprehensive economic history looks at humanity's attempts to curb the abuse of debt while reaping the benefits of credit. Beggar Thy Neighbor examines the major debt revolutions of the past, demonstrating that extensive leverage and debt were behind most financial market crashes from the Renaissance to the present day. Geisst argues that usury prohibitions, as part of the natural law tradition in Western and Islamic societies, continue to play a key role in banking regulation despite modern advances in finance. From the Roman Empire to the recent Dodd-Frank financial reforms, usury ceilings still occupy a central place in notions of free markets and economic justice.
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812207505
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 396
Book Description
The practice of charging interest on loans has been controversial since it was first mentioned in early recorded history. Lending is a powerful economic tool, vital to the development of society but it can also lead to disaster if left unregulated. Prohibitions against excessive interest, or usury, have been found in almost all societies since antiquity. Whether loans were made in kind or in cash, creditors often were accused of beggar-thy-neighbor exploitation when their lending terms put borrowers at risk of ruin. While the concept of usury reflects transcendent notions of fairness, its definition has varied over time and place: Roman law distinguished between simple and compound interest, the medieval church banned interest altogether, and even Adam Smith favored a ceiling on interest. But in spite of these limits, the advantages and temptations of lending prompted financial innovations from margin investing and adjustable-rate mortgages to credit cards and microlending. In Beggar Thy Neighbor, financial historian Charles R. Geisst tracks the changing perceptions of usury and debt from the time of Cicero to the most recent financial crises. This comprehensive economic history looks at humanity's attempts to curb the abuse of debt while reaping the benefits of credit. Beggar Thy Neighbor examines the major debt revolutions of the past, demonstrating that extensive leverage and debt were behind most financial market crashes from the Renaissance to the present day. Geisst argues that usury prohibitions, as part of the natural law tradition in Western and Islamic societies, continue to play a key role in banking regulation despite modern advances in finance. From the Roman Empire to the recent Dodd-Frank financial reforms, usury ceilings still occupy a central place in notions of free markets and economic justice.
Defence of Usury
Author: Jeremy Bentham
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Usury
Languages : en
Pages : 54
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Usury
Languages : en
Pages : 54
Book Description
Usury and Usury Laws
Author: Franklin Winton Ryan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Interest
Languages : en
Pages : 298
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Interest
Languages : en
Pages : 298
Book Description
Finance for Lawyers
Author: Steven J. Willis
Publisher: West Academic Publishing
ISBN: 9781684675685
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 560
Book Description
Finance for Lawyers covers financial calculations which lawyers commonly use: present and future values, annuities, and sinking funds. The book, extensive glossary, calculators and available slides are designed for students new to finance, though more experienced students will also find them useful. They relate calculations to many legal areas with practical problems involving torts, family law, loan amortization, retirement planning and much more. The book and materials also have in-depth coverage of the APR, usury laws, choosing the appropriate interest/discount rate, and the use of life-expectancy tables. The pedagogical approach is problem-oriented, with many practical, real-life exercises illustrating things such as: Computing the present value of lost wages in a wrongful death case. Valuing lottery winnings or a structured settlement. Amortizing a student loan or home loan. Saving for retirement or for a child's education. Computing the lump-sum alimony amount equivalent to periodic payments. Each Lesson (Chapter) has detailed examples/problems (with answers) plus additional interactive practice problems (with available answers) and assignment questions and self-grading quizzes (with answers available to faculty).
Publisher: West Academic Publishing
ISBN: 9781684675685
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 560
Book Description
Finance for Lawyers covers financial calculations which lawyers commonly use: present and future values, annuities, and sinking funds. The book, extensive glossary, calculators and available slides are designed for students new to finance, though more experienced students will also find them useful. They relate calculations to many legal areas with practical problems involving torts, family law, loan amortization, retirement planning and much more. The book and materials also have in-depth coverage of the APR, usury laws, choosing the appropriate interest/discount rate, and the use of life-expectancy tables. The pedagogical approach is problem-oriented, with many practical, real-life exercises illustrating things such as: Computing the present value of lost wages in a wrongful death case. Valuing lottery winnings or a structured settlement. Amortizing a student loan or home loan. Saving for retirement or for a child's education. Computing the lump-sum alimony amount equivalent to periodic payments. Each Lesson (Chapter) has detailed examples/problems (with answers) plus additional interactive practice problems (with available answers) and assignment questions and self-grading quizzes (with answers available to faculty).
Loan Sharks
Author: Charles R. Geisst
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815729014
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 275
Book Description
Predatory lending: A problem rooted in the past that continues today. Looking for an investment return that could exceed 500 percent annually; maybe even twice that much? Private, unregulated lending to high-risk borrowers is the answer, or at least it was in the United States for much of the period from the Civil War to the onset of the early decades of the twentieth century. Newspapers called the practice “loan sharking” because lenders employed the same ruthlessness as the great predators in the ocean. Slowly state and federal governments adopted laws and regulations curtailing the practice, but organized crime continued to operate much of the business. In the end, lending to high-margin investors contributed directly to the Wall Street crash of 1929. Loan Sharks is the first history of predatory lending in the United States. It traces the origins of modern consumer lending to such older practices as salary buying and hidden interest charges. Yet, as Geisst shows, no-holds barred loan sharking is not a thing of the past. Many current lending practices employed today by credit card companies, payday lenders, and providers of consumer loans would have been easily recognizable at the end of the nineteenth century. Geisst demonstrates the still prevalent custom of lenders charging high interest rates, especially to risky borrowers, despite attempts to control the practice by individual states. Usury and loan sharking have not disappeared a century and a half after the predatory practices first raised public concern.
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815729014
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 275
Book Description
Predatory lending: A problem rooted in the past that continues today. Looking for an investment return that could exceed 500 percent annually; maybe even twice that much? Private, unregulated lending to high-risk borrowers is the answer, or at least it was in the United States for much of the period from the Civil War to the onset of the early decades of the twentieth century. Newspapers called the practice “loan sharking” because lenders employed the same ruthlessness as the great predators in the ocean. Slowly state and federal governments adopted laws and regulations curtailing the practice, but organized crime continued to operate much of the business. In the end, lending to high-margin investors contributed directly to the Wall Street crash of 1929. Loan Sharks is the first history of predatory lending in the United States. It traces the origins of modern consumer lending to such older practices as salary buying and hidden interest charges. Yet, as Geisst shows, no-holds barred loan sharking is not a thing of the past. Many current lending practices employed today by credit card companies, payday lenders, and providers of consumer loans would have been easily recognizable at the end of the nineteenth century. Geisst demonstrates the still prevalent custom of lenders charging high interest rates, especially to risky borrowers, despite attempts to control the practice by individual states. Usury and loan sharking have not disappeared a century and a half after the predatory practices first raised public concern.
The Political Economy of Financial Regulation
Author: Emilios Avgouleas
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110847036X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 531
Book Description
Examines the law and policy of financial regulation using a combination of conceptual analysis and strong empirical research.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110847036X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 531
Book Description
Examines the law and policy of financial regulation using a combination of conceptual analysis and strong empirical research.
Human Capital and Institutions
Author: David Eltis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139480456
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
Human Capital and Institutions is concerned with human capital in its many dimensions and brings to the fore the role of political, social, and economic institutions in human capital formation and economic growth. Written by leading economic historians, including pioneers in historical research on human capital, the chapters in this text offer a broad-based view of human capital in economic development. The issues they address range from nutrition in pre-modern societies to twentieth-century advances in medical care; from the social institutions that provided temporary relief to workers in the middle and lower ranges of the wage scale to the factors that affected the performance of those who reached the pinnacle in business and art; and from political systems that stifled the advance of literacy to those that promoted public and higher education. Just as human capital has been a key to economic growth, so has the emergence of appropriate institutions been a key to the growth of human capital.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139480456
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
Human Capital and Institutions is concerned with human capital in its many dimensions and brings to the fore the role of political, social, and economic institutions in human capital formation and economic growth. Written by leading economic historians, including pioneers in historical research on human capital, the chapters in this text offer a broad-based view of human capital in economic development. The issues they address range from nutrition in pre-modern societies to twentieth-century advances in medical care; from the social institutions that provided temporary relief to workers in the middle and lower ranges of the wage scale to the factors that affected the performance of those who reached the pinnacle in business and art; and from political systems that stifled the advance of literacy to those that promoted public and higher education. Just as human capital has been a key to economic growth, so has the emergence of appropriate institutions been a key to the growth of human capital.
Comparative Law of Security Interests and Title Finance
Author: Philip R. Wood
Publisher: Sweet & Maxwell
ISBN: 1847032060
Category : Bail
Languages : en
Pages : 935
Book Description
W Green has brought together leading figures from both academia and domestic and international practice to write this book, which features a comprehensive commentary on the Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010
Publisher: Sweet & Maxwell
ISBN: 1847032060
Category : Bail
Languages : en
Pages : 935
Book Description
W Green has brought together leading figures from both academia and domestic and international practice to write this book, which features a comprehensive commentary on the Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010
London's Triumph
Author: Stephen Alford
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1620408236
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436
Book Description
The dramatic story of the dazzling growth of London in the sixteenth century. For most, England in the sixteenth century was the era of the Tudors, from Henry VII and VIII to Elizabeth I. But as their dramas played out at court, England was being transformed economically by the astonishing discoveries of the New World and of direct sea routes to Asia. At the start of the century, England was hardly involved in the wider world and London remained a gloomy, introverted medieval city. But as the century progressed something extraordinary happened, which placed London at the center of the world stage forever. Stephen Alford's evocative, original new book uses the same skills that made his widely-praised The Watchers so successful, bringing to life the network of merchants, visionaries, crooks, and sailors who changed London and England forever. In a sudden explosion of energy, English ships were suddenly found all over the world--trading with Russia and the Levant, exploring Virginia and the Arctic, and fanning out across the Indian Ocean. The people who made this possible--the families, the guild members, the money-men who were willing to risk huge sums and sometimes their own lives in pursuit of the rare, exotic, and desirable--are as interesting as any of those at court. Their ambitions fueled a new view of the world--initiating a long era of trade and empire, the consequences of which still resonate today.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1620408236
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436
Book Description
The dramatic story of the dazzling growth of London in the sixteenth century. For most, England in the sixteenth century was the era of the Tudors, from Henry VII and VIII to Elizabeth I. But as their dramas played out at court, England was being transformed economically by the astonishing discoveries of the New World and of direct sea routes to Asia. At the start of the century, England was hardly involved in the wider world and London remained a gloomy, introverted medieval city. But as the century progressed something extraordinary happened, which placed London at the center of the world stage forever. Stephen Alford's evocative, original new book uses the same skills that made his widely-praised The Watchers so successful, bringing to life the network of merchants, visionaries, crooks, and sailors who changed London and England forever. In a sudden explosion of energy, English ships were suddenly found all over the world--trading with Russia and the Levant, exploring Virginia and the Arctic, and fanning out across the Indian Ocean. The people who made this possible--the families, the guild members, the money-men who were willing to risk huge sums and sometimes their own lives in pursuit of the rare, exotic, and desirable--are as interesting as any of those at court. Their ambitions fueled a new view of the world--initiating a long era of trade and empire, the consequences of which still resonate today.
A History of American Law
Author: Lawrence M. Friedman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190070919
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 865
Book Description
Renowned legal historian Lawrence Friedman presents an accessible and authoritative history of American law from the colonial era to the present day. This fully revised fourth edition incorporates the latest research to bring this classic work into the twenty-first century. In addition to looking closely at timely issues like race relations, the book covers the changing configurations of commercial law, criminal law, family law, and the law of property. Friedman furthermore interrogates the vicissitudes of the legal profession and legal education. The underlying theory of this eminently readable book is that the law is the product of society. In this way, we can view the history of the legal system through a sociological prism as it has evolved over the years.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190070919
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 865
Book Description
Renowned legal historian Lawrence Friedman presents an accessible and authoritative history of American law from the colonial era to the present day. This fully revised fourth edition incorporates the latest research to bring this classic work into the twenty-first century. In addition to looking closely at timely issues like race relations, the book covers the changing configurations of commercial law, criminal law, family law, and the law of property. Friedman furthermore interrogates the vicissitudes of the legal profession and legal education. The underlying theory of this eminently readable book is that the law is the product of society. In this way, we can view the history of the legal system through a sociological prism as it has evolved over the years.