Financial Elites in European Banking: Historical Perspectives

by Youssef Cassis, Giuseppe Telesca

Overview

What role have the financial elites in European societies and markets played over time? What was their contribution to the recent financial collapse, and how does this compare to previous crises? How have financial elites adjusted to, or influenced, the evolution of the financial system's regulatory framework over time? Financial Elites and European Banking: Historical Perspectives is a collection of essays dedicated to the European financial elites and the current debate on the role of experts within society.

The ambiguities of the globalized economy over the last thirty years, epitomized by growing levels of inequality, have generated a feeling of distrust towards experts. Financial elites have become one of the most scrutinized targets of negative public opinion, triggered by the financial crisis, the high compensations enjoyed both before and after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and the obscure nature of their activity. Financial Elites in European Banking presents historical comparisons and country and cross-country case studies on financial elites' adaption and contribution to the transformation of regulatory and cultural context in the wake of a crisis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198782797
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Youssef Cassis is Professor of Economic History at the European University Institute, in Florence. His work mainly focuses on banking and financial history, as well as business history more generally. His most recent publications include Capitals of Capital: A History of International Financial Centres, 1780-2005 (Cambridge University Press, 2006, 2nd revised edition, 2009), Crises and Opportunities: The Shaping of Modern Finance (OUP, 2011), and, with Philip Cottrell, Private Banking in Europe: Rise, Retreat and Resurgence (OUP, 2015). He has also recently co-edited, with Richard Grossman and Catherine Schenk, The Oxford Handbook of Banking and Financial History, (OUP, 2016). Professor Cassis was the cofounder, in 1994, of Financial History Review (Cambridge University Press).

Giuseppe Telesca currently holds the position of Research Associate at the European University Institute (Fiesole, Italy) where he collaborates with Professor Youssef Cassis on a project on the "Memories of Financial Crises". He obtained his PhD in economic and social history at the University of Florence and undertook post-doctoral research as Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. He has published on the history of the Italian banking system, the evolution of European financial elites, and the economic and urban impact of big sport events on host cities/countries.

Table of Contents

Introduction, Giuseppe Telesca1. Financial crises and the public discourse on financial elites: A comparison between the Great Depression and the Great Recession, Youssef Cassis and Giuseppe Telesca2. Reshaping strategies: merchants and bankers at the time of the French Revolution, Niccolo Valmori3. Adjusting to financial instability in the interwar period. Italian financial elites, international cooperation and domestic regulation, 1919-1939, Giandomenico Piluso4. Financial elites and the Italian corporate network, 1913-2001, Alberto Rinaldi and Michelangelo Vasta5. French bankers and the transformation of the financial system in the second half of the twentieth century, Laure Quennouelle-Corre6. Trust and regulation in corporate capital markets before 1914, Leslie Hannah7. Financial elites, law, and regulation: A historical perspective, TT Arvind, Joanna Gray, and Sarah Wilson8. Central bankers in twelve countries between 1950 and 2000: the making of a global elite, Mikael Wendschlag9. Basel banking supervisors and the construction of an international standard-setter institution, Alexis Frederic Drach

Editorial Reviews

"This book has the merit to put the role of financial elites in a central place at a time when the main actors of the financial world are often blamed for the crisis ... By going beyond the obvious groups such as the bankers, the book forces the reader to reflect on what constitutes the financial elite. The book is likely to appeal to researchers in financial history, but also to anybody eager to know more about the multifaceted notion of financial elites." — Kim Oosterlinck, Journal of Economic Literature

From the Publisher