• The Long History of Political Betting Markets: An International Perspective
    • “Political future markets, in which investors bet on election outcomes, are often thought a recent invention. Such markets in fact have a long history in many Western countries. This paper traces the operation of political futures markets back to 16th Century Italy, 18th Century Britain and Ireland, 19th Century Canada, and 20th Century Australia and Singapore.
  • Corporate Bond Default Risk: A 150-Year Perspective
    • “We study corporate bond default rates using an extensive new data set spanning the 1866–2008 period. We find that the corporate bond market has repeatedly suffered clustered default events much worse than those experienced during the Great Depression. For example, during the railroad crisis of 1873–1875, total defaults amounted to 36 percent of the par value of the entire corporate bond market.”
  • Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920
    • Spend hours looking through Duke University’s archive of early advertisements in America. Products range from ‘Non-Explosive Lamps’ to ‘Life Preserving Coffins’, specifically designed for ‘doubtful cases of death’.”