Stock Exchange
Stock Exchange. The London Stock Exchange was founded in 1802, providing a mechanism for the increasing volume and complexity of financial transactions which had developed in the 18th cent. Prosperous merchants, and institutions such as insurance companies, which had massive resources, supplied the investment to the government, ever short of funds, to individuals, characteristically for improvements to landed estates, and to business. The scale of formal investment increased massively in the second half of the 19th cent., with a marked orientation towards international operations which the city of London still retains. Provincial stock exchanges also flourished rather briefly in the Victorian period, often with strong local specializations, such as Oldham in cotton and Sheffield in steel.
Clive H. Lee
More From encyclopedia.com
NEARBY TERMS
Stock Exchange
