The Development of Consumer Credit in Global Perspective

The financial crisis of 2007-2009 underscored the centrality of consumer credit for modern economies. While some Europeans were quick to blame unsustainable American patterns of borrowing and consumption, consumer indebtedness became a growing problem in other countries, too. At the same time, impor [...]
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The financial crisis of 2007-2009 underscored the centrality of consumer credit for modern economies. While some Europeans were quick to blame unsustainable American patterns of borrowing and consumption, consumer indebtedness became a growing problem in other countries, too. At the same time, important differences in cultures of credit were evident in the seemingly homogenous global world of finance and consumption. This book explores the history of consumer credit in Europe, the United States, and Japan. It focuses on the period after World War II but also reaches further back, and it integrates anthropological and economic perspectives.