During this century, the city completely changed its character from an insignificant rural town of 12 000 inhabitants to an expansive industrial and maritime city, and by the turn of the century it had over 130 000 people. Behind this growth was a sharp increase in economic activity. New businesses and investments required access to capital, which in turn drove the development of an independent Gothenburg capital market.

The book examines the city's formal (mainly banks) and informal (mainly promissory notes) credit market. An estimate of the size of the credit market has shown that formal lending accounted for about half of the credit market at the turn of the century 1900. The shift towards a credit market dominated by the banks mentioned in previous research had thus not taken place at that time.

The study of city brokers in Gothenburg has revealed a previously unexplored aspect of how the credit market worked. City brokers arranged promissory note loans, drew up contracts and brokered goods. Their activities were widespread in all the country's major cities, but only in Gothenburg is archival material preserved.

Overall, the book provides a new perspective on the credit market and its functioning in the 19th century. The studies have been conducted with methods that make the results comparable with previous and ongoing research in other parts of Sweden.

Per Hallén
University of Gothenburg School of Economics

Heads or Tails was launched on September 2, 2015 in collaboration with the Gothenburg City Museum.

About the authors
Per Hallén
Senior Lecturer Per Hallén is active as a researcher and teacher at the University of Gothenburg with a focus on commercial, urban and naval history.

 Lili-AnnèAldman
Researcher Lili-Annè Aldman is active in economic history at the University of Gothenburg and has previously published writings on foreign trade and consumption.

Martin Fritz
Professor Martin Fritz has been active as a researcher at the University of Gothenburg with a focus on Swedish industrial history, Gothenburg history and Sweden's trade during the Second World War.