Economic History

Keynes: The Dunkirk Diplomat

Benn Steil argues that John Maynard Keynes had an astute grasp of Britain’s debt situation in 1944 and how it might recover from ‘financial Dunkirk’. Yet his arrogance and ineptitude in negotiating with the Americans at Bretton Woods cost Britain dear and has had repercussions to this day.

Debt Crisis, Renaissance Style

As Cyprus attempts to solve its debt problem by targeting private assets, Alexander Lee finds some ominous lessons in 15th-century Florence.

Asia and the Old World Order

Some commentators predict that the 21st century will be the ‘Asian century’, marking a significant shift in power from West to East. If so, it will not be so different from the global order of the 19th century, says Thomas DuBois.

The Bandeirantes of Brazil

N.P. Macdonald explains how modern Brazil owes its extensive frontiers, and the discovery of many of its natural riches, to the journeys far inland, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, of pioneers in search of slaves.

The Silk Road

2000 years ago, writes William Y. Willetts, magnificent Silks from China began to reach the wealthy families of Rome.

Ludwig and Alfred Mond

The Monds were significant figures not only as the architects of a great modern industry but as representatives of a phase of industrial development that nowadays belongs to the past. Here Dr. W.H. Chaloner traces the rise of these determined individualists.

Charles I and the Fens

L.E. Harris shows how, by draining the Fens, Charles I hoped to replenish his Exchequer; but that the Dutch engineers he employed began a work that still continues.