Interdisciplinary Seminar in Economic History: “‘Dormant securities’: Imperial guarantees for colonial loans, 1842-1934”
21/04/2026 (Seminars)
Bank of Greece, DIESOI
The Historical Archives of the Bank of Greece, in the context of the Interdisciplinary Seminar in Economic History, jointly organised with the Athens University of Economics and Business and Panteion University, invite you to the lecture entitled:
“‘Dormant securities’: Imperial guarantees for colonial loans, 1842-1934”
Speaker: Rui Esteves (Graduate Institute, Switzerland)
A few words on the topic:
Contemporaries and historians agree that British colonies did not borrow on their own credit but on imperial fiat. The speaker’s study comes to qualify this assertion by exploring the history of colonial bonds explicitly guaranteed by Britain. The findings of the research – conducted in collaboration with Ali Coșkun Tunçer (University College London) – support that markets priced guarantees above other colonial bonds and that colonial governments lobbied for them. The introduction of other regulatory enhancements reduced the value of guarantees in the late 19th century, but it recovered in the interwar. British authorities were ambivalent about guarantees – worrying about creating moral hazard, while using them to lower the costs of developmental and strategic projects in the colonies.
The sessions are held between 17:00-19:00 at the Museum of the Bank of Greece, 3 Amerikis Street, Athens, and are open to the public, without requiring prior registration. The lecture will be delivered in English.
The complete programme of upcoming lectures is available on the website of the Interdisciplinary Seminar in Economic History.
Relevant link:
Poster of the event