ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book suggests that the availability of widespread credit facilities largely accounts for the looseness of trading and the extent of commercial crises during the early nineteenth century. It is, therefore, surprising that little is known about the credit instruments which were used at the time and the operations of financial institutions which had the power to control them. The book presents to shed light upon these problems by examining the implications of the evidence. It explains the causes and course of the 1810 crisis suggests that the instability resulted from weaknesses in both financial institutions and monetary theory. The conclusions relate to three aspects of economic activity: the policies of the banking fraternity, the activities of commercial firms, and the employment of negotiable instruments in the normal course of trade.
