THE EVOLUTION OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS – comprising banking houses, discount houses, the stock exchange, and insurance houses – constituted an important part of the development of the English economy between 1650 and 1850. The combined operation of these institutions structured the credit economy in England during and after the Industrial Revolution. Their importance in the development process can be viewed from different angles. Being part of the service sector of the economy, their independent contribution to the growth of national income and employment over time can be examined in its own right. Crafts has estimated that government and defense, and housing and services contributed 27 percent of British national output in the eighteenth century, and 26 percent in the period 1801–31. C. H. Lee takes a broader view of the service sector to include trade, transport, insurance, banking, financial and business services, professional and scientific services, public administration, and defense – in short, the residual of the national income after taking out the contribution of agriculture, mining, industry, and construction. Under his broad conception of the service sector, Lee computes that the contribution of the respective sectors to the estimated overall employment growth rate of 1.73 percent per annum between 1755 and 1851 was 54.9 percent for industry (including manufacturing, mining, and construction), 22.0 percent for agriculture, 19.1 percent for services, and unclassified, 4.0 percent.