A comparative view of private money-lending in Lisbon (17th-19th century)

Abstract

The central theme of this article is the forms in which information circulated and the development of specialists in the provision of capital. The article starts out by examining the social composition of the money-lending system in Lisbon. There then follows a comparison of its concentration with those that existed in other European societies. Finally, the analysis focuses on the forms of circulation of information. The development of these topics makes it possible to characterise the credit system in Lisbon according to two essential factors: the dispersion of the capital offer, with the presence of a certain number of moneylenders not being sufficient to permit us to speak of a concentrated system; the crucial importance of interpersonal relationships as a vehicle for the transmission of information, which rendered information specialists unnecessary, also in this context. The article concludes by proffering some possible explanations for the established characterisation, which indeed gives the money-lending system in Lisbon a very singular character, distinguishing it entirely from other European systems already analysed.