Philip T. Hoffman Bücher

Europa war einmal die führende Macht in der Welt. Zwischen 1492 und 1914 eroberten Europäer 84 Prozent des Weltterritoriums. Was machte sie so stark? Waren nicht die Chinesen oder Osmanen über Jahrhunderte den Europäern weit voraus? Der renommierte Wirtschaftshistoriker Philip T. Hoffman zeigt eindrucksvoll, dass die herkömmlichen Thesen nicht greifen. Die entscheidende Rolle für den Aufstieg Europas spielte die Kleinstaaterei und die damit verbundenen unzähligen Kriege. Jahrhundertelang gaben die Staaten riesige Mengen Geld für militärische Innovationen aus. Militarismus und technische Errungenschaften wurden so zum Motor der gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung. Der unerreichbare Vorsprung Europas in der militärischen Verwendung von Schießpulver sicherte Kolonialreiche und den einträglichen Sklavenhandel. Faktenreich und fesselnd enthüllt Philip T. Hoffman die verblüffenden Gründe für Europas Vorherrschaft und warum diese nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg endete.

Challenging the notion of stagnation in early modern European agriculture, the author presents a detailed historical analysis of peasant farming in ancien-régime France. By measuring long-term economic growth, he explores the interplay of political, institutional, and trade factors in agricultural development. Comparing France with England and Germany, Hoffman argues that obstacles to growth were rooted in political structures rather than cultural or property rights issues. His insights, grounded in microeconomics and game theory, provide a fresh perspective on peasant society and its economic dynamics.

Prevailing wisdom dictates that, without banks, countries would be mired in poverty. Yet somehow much of Europe managed to grow rich long before the diffusion of banks. Dark Matter Credit draws on centuries of cleverly collected loan data from France to reveal how credit abounded well before banks opened their doors. This incisive book shows how a vast system of shadow credit enabled nearly a third of French families to borrow in 1740, and by 1840 funded as much mortgage debt as the American banking system of the 1950s. Dark Matter Credit traces how this extensive private network outcompeted banks and thrived prior to World War I--not just in France but in Britain, Germany, and the United States--until killed off by government intervention after 1918. Overturning common assumptions about banks and economic growth, the book paints a revealing picture of an until-now hidden market of thousands of peer-to-peer loans made possible by a network of brokers who matched lenders with borrowers and certified the borrowers' creditworthiness. A major work of scholarship, Dark Matter Credit challenges widespread misperceptions about French economic history, such as the notion that banks proliferated slowly, and the idea that financial innovation was hobbled by French law. By documenting how intermediaries in the shadow credit market devised effective financial instruments, this compelling book provides new insights into how countries can develop and thrive today. -- Provided by publisher