Government debts and financial markets in Europe, from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, were the subject of discussion at the XIVth Congress of the International Economic History Association in Helsinki in August 2006. In particular, the relationship between government indebtedness and the creation of enduring financial markets provided a focus of the discussions. Scholars from different academic backgrounds looked at the subject from a comparative perspective and from different angles. This collection publishes the essence of this research, but the articles provide for a more in-depth discussion than what was presented at Helsinki. All contributions draw on original research and discuss some of the most important aspects of public finance history.

Throughout history and until the present day, public debt service has signified a basic problem within European state finances. From the late middle ages onwards – if not earlier – urban and central governments began to raise money through long- and short-term loans. Initially, indebtedness was intended to finance war budgets, but gradually money was channelled towards civil purposes such as public works or food supply. Municipal and state authorities could either approach prominent bankers, merchants and money lenders, or they could apply directly for the savings of private citizens. On occasion, both methods were pursued in parallel in some local areas. Monarchs largely preferred to negotiate with high-level financiers, in exchange for profitable fiscal revenues from the crown, whereas urban governments preferred to launch forced or free loans, involving citizens in the debt business along the way. However, it is very difficult to categorize or locate the various debt systems across Europe from the late medieval and early modern period onwards.

The growth of a public debt service is closely linked with the most important aspects of state-building processes and forms of government. Raising money through debts strongly depends, where representative assemblies are in place, on the consensus won by government or the power held by the ruling morarch.