Plantation Mortgage-Backed Securities: Evidence from Surinam in the Eighteenth Century

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Monash University; Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT); Erasmus University Rotterdam; Erasmus University Rotterdam - Excl Erasmus MC
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S002205072300027X
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 874-911
• 关键词: bank; MARKETS; liability

摘要

In the second half of the eighteenth century, Dutch bankers channeled investors' funds to sugar and coffee plantations in the Caribbean, Surinam in particular. Agency problems between plantation owners, bankers, and investors led to an arrangement called negotiaties. Bankers oversaw plantations' cash flows and placed mortgage debt with investors. We demonstrate how this securitization arrangement worked using market-wide data and detailed records from banker F. W. Hudig. During the boom, debt contracts and their securitization were an effective solution for planters, bankers, and investors. However, the market crashed after an oversupply of credit. This led to inefficient restructuring due to debt overhang.