The Economy of Obligation：The Culture of Credit and Social Relations in Early Modern England

Thisbookisanexcellentworkofscholarship.ItseekstoredefinetheearlymodernEnglisheconomybyrejectingtheconceptofcapitalism,andinsteadexplorestheculturalmeaningofcredit,resultingfromthewayinwhichitwaseconomicallystructured.Itisamajorargumentofthebookthatmoneywasusedonlyinalimitednumberofexchanges,andthatcreditintermsofhouseholdreputation,wasa'culturalcurrency'oftrustusedtotransactmostbusiness.Asthemarketexpandedinthelate-sixteenthcenturysuchtrustbecamehardertomaintain,leadingtoanexplosionofdebtlitigation,whichinturnresultedinsocialrelationsbeingpartiallyredefinedintermsofcontractualequality.