Jaco Zuijderduijn
Senior lecturer
Years of plenty, years of want? : An introduction to finance and the family life cycle
Author
Summary, in English
Research suggests that until recently families in history could only avoid episodes of poverty if they put money aside. By helping to smooth consumption over the family life cycle, finance could prevent impoverishment, and is also likely to have had an effect on family life. Saving may have influenced cohabitation structures and the timing and incidence of birth, marriage, and death. That families depended on finance is underlined by the fact that some financial institutions and instruments were specifically developed to help families to smooth consumption over the life cycle. Families’ demand for finance thus also shaped financial institutions and instruments. This Introduction provides an overview of how families’ demand for finance shaped financial institutions and instruments, and how finance may have helped families to prevent episodes of poverty, and explains how the contributions to this special issue tie into this.
Department/s
- Department of Economic History
- Financial history, banking and insurance
- Growth, technological change, and inequality
Publishing year
2022
Language
English
Pages
201-220
Publication/Series
The History of the Family
Volume
27
Issue
2
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Topic
- Economic History
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Keywords
- Family life cycle
- Family history
- Financial History
- Life-cycle saving
Status
Published
Project
- Golden years. Understanding the retirement business in pre-modern Europe, c.1250-c.1800
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1081-602X