YSB book

The files contained are the chapters for a book project (tentatively) called On an Even Keel: Silver Risk, Trade Insurance and Hedging Strategies around the Turn of the Twentieth Century. The book revisits literature on silver risk in the second half of the nineteenth century and argues that if the latter existed for sovereign debt, there should be an equivalent for trade finance as well. Using contemporary accounting manuals, the archives of the Yokohama Specie Bank (preserved at the University of Tokyo), contemporary journalistic sources etc., I demonstrate that 19th century exchange bankers did have a strong understanding of ways to hedge risk. The book demonstrates the latter in a quantitative manner, and uses network theoretical visualizations to show how these strategies evolved over time, especially in the context of Japan's expanding imperialist ambitions in the region.