Politics, Markets, and Mexico's 'London Debt', 1823–1887
Politics, Markets, and Mexico's 'London Debt', 1823–1887
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USDIn 1823 and 1824, the newly independent government of Mexico entered the international capital market, raising two loans in London totaling £6.4 million. Intended to cover a variety of expenses, the loans fell into default by 1827 and remained in default until 1887. This case study explores how the loan process worked in Mexico in the early nineteenth century, when foreign lending was still a novelty, and the unexpected ways in which international debt could influence politics and policy. The history of the loans, the efforts of successive governments in Mexico to resume repayment, and the efforts of the foreign lenders to recover their investment became one of the most significant, persistent, and contentious, if largely misunderstood, issues in the political and financial history of nineteenth-century Mexico. The loans themselves became entangled in partisan politics in Mexico and abroad, especially in Great Britain and France, and were a fertile source of speculation for a wide range of legitimate - and not-so-legitimate - international financiers.
- Written in plain language, not in specialists' jargon
- Intended as much for historians and students of politics as for those interested in finance
- Tries to consider the issue in a balanced way, i.e., weighing the views of all the participants in light of as much archival evidence as possible: this is not about victims and victimizers in the international market
Reviews & endorsements
"Richard J. Salvucci has done historians of Mexico an enormous favor by writing this book. In 300 pages he has managed to distill untold reams of complicated and sometimes virtually incoherent documents into a readable account of the effect of borrowing some 32 million pesos (or 6.4 million pounds sterling) from British banking houses in the 1820s...It is a bravura performance."
The Americas, Barbara A. Tenenbaum, Library of Congress
"With meticulous research in dozens of public and private archives and libraries in Mexico, Great Britain, and the United States, Salvucci has produced a dramatic, complex, and compelling narrative...This fine book will stand as the decisive work on the subject for a long time to come. " - Edward Beatty, American Historical Review
“Politics, Markets, and Mexico’s “London Debt” will be indispensable for economic historians of Latin American in general and of Mexico in particular. This book will soon become a classic on the history of foreign debt.” - Graciela Marquez, Hispanic American Historical Review
"Recommended." - Choice
Product details
June 2009Hardback
9780521489997
346 pages
229 × 152 × 24 mm
0.68kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. A Crazy Contrivance
- 2. Default
- 3. Blood From a Stone
- 4. A Monstrous Enterprise
- Conclusions: lessons for the Past: The London debt in a Modern Mirror.
