Notes on contributors; Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction Alice Teichova, Ginette Kurgan-van Hentenryk and Dieter Ziegler; Part I. Origins of Banking: from Local to Distant Markets: 2. The impact of Italian banking in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 1300-1500 David Abulafia; 3. The great German banking houses and international merchants, from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century Michael North; 4. Public banks, trade and industry in southern Italy, from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century Paola Avallone; 5. Financial circuits in Spain: merchants and bankers, 1700-1914 Monserrat Gárate Ojanguren; Part II. The Banks' Influence in Leading Industrial Economies: 6. Banking and the evolution of the British economy, 1694-1878 H. L. Bowen and P. L. Cottrell; 7. Banks, economic development and capitalism in France Eric Bussière; 8. The influence of banking on the rise and expansion of industrial capitalism in Germany Dieter Ziegler; 9. Banks and the rise of capitalism in Switzerland, from the fifteenth to the twentieth century Youssef Cassis; 10. The influence of banking on the rise of capitalism in north-west Europe, from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century Herman van der Wee; Part III. The Banks' Impact on 'Follower' and 'Latecomer' Economies: 11. The influence of banking on the development of capitalism in Scandinavian countries Håkan Lindgren; 12. Banking and industry in central Europe, from the nineteenth to the twentieth century Alice Teichova; 13. Banking and economic development in Spain Gabriel Tortella; 14. The role of banking in Italy's industrialization, from the nineteenth to the twentieth century Luigi DeRosa; 15. The role of European banks in the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Elena Frangakis-Syrett; 16. The role of banks in establishing a community of firms in Russia Andrei Yudanov; Part IV. The Expansion of Banking in the American and Asian Economies: 17. Banking in North America 1700-1900 Larry Schweikart; 18. Banking as class action: social and national struggles in the history of Canadian banking Robert C. H. Sweeny; 19. Nation-building and the origins of banking in Latin America, 1850-1930 Carlos Marichal; 20. Banking, trade and the rise of capitalism in Argentina, 1850-1930 Andrés M. Regalsky; 21. International banking in China, 1890-1913 Shizuya Nishimura; 22. The role of banking in Japan, 1859-1973 Kanji Ishii.