Introduction

Government debts and financial markets in Europe, from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, were the subject of discussion at the XIVth Congress of the International Economic History Association in Helsinki in August 2006. A discussion at the XIVth Congress focuses the relationship between government indebtedness and the creation of enduring financial markets. Public debt service represents a responsive tool of political economy that needs to be continuously balanced with the global sustainable fiscal burden, as huge debt increases enforce bankruptcies or new taxes. Public debt markets widely accessible through stock exchanges, banking network services or even ad hoc bureaux. Private institutions and local authorities also entered the market, building up their assets with public bonds rather than real estate. Inter-University Centre for the History of Italian Finance (CIRSFI) surveys wide-ranging national research to culminate in the preparation of the Helsinki Congress.