ABSTRACT

In light of the ongoing extensive discussion concerning the increasing financial risk levels of the household sector in modern, credit-based societies, this study explores the level and structure of credit markets in nineteenth century Sweden. The growing international research focusing on informal credit markets outside formalised institutions has demonstrated that credit was abundantly and pervasively included in the lion’s share of all inter-personal financial relationships in early modern Europe. In this particular study, based on probate inventories and the inverted mortality method, the changing structure of nineteenth century credit market is estimated for the living population. The household financial situation is studied as life-cycle indebtedness and as debt ratios in relation to income, wealth and financial assets and how these ratios evolved during the transformation from a predominately agrarian to a more commercialised, monetised and industrialised economy in Sweden during the nineteenth century. The source material for this article consists of more than 5800 household probate inventories from Southern and Central Sweden, including three rural and two urban areas. The geographical selection is based on a sample utilised in a wider research project. It permits comparisons of debt structures not only between rural and urban areas, but also among different regions within Sweden.

摘要

鉴于对现代信贷社会中家庭部门金融风险水平不断提高的广泛讨论，本研究探讨了 19 世纪瑞典信贷市场的水平和结构。越来越多的国际研究侧重于正规机构之外的非正规信贷市场，这表明信贷在现代早期欧洲的所有人际关系金融关系中占很大比例。在这项特定的研究中，基于遗嘱认证清单和倒置死亡率方法，估计了 19 世纪信贷市场结构的变化。家庭财务状况被研究为生命周期债务和与收入相关的债务比率，财富和金融资产，以及在 19 世纪瑞典从以农业为主的经济向更加商业化、货币化和工业化的经济转型过程中这些比率如何演变。本文的源材料包括来自瑞典南部和中部的 5800 多份家庭遗嘱认证清单，包括三个农村地区和两个城市地区。地理选择基于更广泛的研究项目中使用的样本。它不仅可以比较农村和城市地区之间的债务结构，还可以比较瑞典不同地区之间的债务结构。本文的源材料包括来自瑞典南部和中部的 5800 多份家庭遗嘱认证清单，包括三个农村地区和两个城市地区。地理选择基于更广泛的研究项目中使用的样本。它不仅可以比较农村和城市地区之间的债务结构，还可以比较瑞典不同地区之间的债务结构。本文的源材料包括来自瑞典南部和中部的 5800 多份家庭遗嘱认证清单，包括三个农村地区和两个城市地区。地理选择基于更广泛的研究项目中使用的样本。它不仅可以比较农村和城市地区之间的债务结构，还可以比较瑞典不同地区之间的债务结构。