Railways and Underwriters 1880-1913

19世纪末和20世纪初的特点是商品和金融市场的国际一体化程度不断提高。在1880-1913年间，主权债券和铁路证券是英国资本流动的主要渠道。铁路是高风险的投资，其特点是资本密集度高，前期投资高，盈亏平衡时间长，沉没成本高，因此被构建为新兴的建设-运营-转让计划，在所有权和管理上既有公共的，也有私人的。由于铁路证券的特性，政府必须减轻严重的信息不对称，以吸引投资。实现这一目标的一个关键手段是聘请信誉良好的承销商在全球证券交易所筹集铁路融资。承销商充当借款人、投资者和政府等第三方（也充当担保人）之间的“媒人”，并通过表明其知情状态或充当委托监督者来减少信息不对称。到19世纪末，承销商已经建立了主权证券市场，但他们的参与对铁路证券的成功更为关键。投资者密切关注承销商和借款人之间的关系，尤其是在金融危机时期。在此背景下，并以Flandreau和Flores（2009）为榜样，我认为承销商的市场力量和声誉引导投资者将他们的名字与更安全的产品联系起来，并建立投资者对全球铁路项目融资的信心。在此背景下，该项目旨在探讨承销商，特别是巴林银行在1880-1913年期间为铁路融资的作用。虽然在我的经济史学会奖学金期间，我已经在研究铁路融资中承销商网络的演变和形状，但我将在两个方向上扩展这项研究。首先，在平静时期和危机时期，铁路债券的承销商是如何表现的？可以说，同时承销政府和铁路证券的共同金融中介机构，在危机期间可能会产生有害影响，从政府到铁路的溢出效应，反之亦然。探索这个问题将突显出，在危机时期，共同的金融中介机构是否充当了传染渠道。第二，与上述问题相关的是，市场化解决方案在铁路债务合同执行中的作用是什么？一般来说，债券持有人委员会在减少违约频率和潜在折价方面改善了市场治理。在1890年巴林银行（Barings）危机之后，阿根廷、乌拉圭和委内瑞拉等几个拉美国家的债务重组中，出现了主权铁路和担保铁路。虽然研究的重点是基于市场的主权债务重组解决方案的相关性，但有担保的铁路债务却被忽视了。总体而言，分析债务重组有助于我们理解危机后全球金融架构的形成。我将使用《证券交易所年鉴》、《投资者每月手册》和很少使用的资源——巴林银行阿根廷代理商的通信和分类账——来了解中介网络在商业周期的不同阶段是如何表现的。该项目以两种方式对1880-1913年全球资本主义史、金融史和铁路融资的文献做出了贡献。首先，它扩展了我们对1880-1913年铁路承销商作用的理解，承销商专门专注于主权证券。其次，该项目将使人们更好地理解承销商在危机时期的作用。在这方面，它将有助于理解可能导致传染的渠道。

The late 19th and early 20th century is characterised as a time of rising international integration in goods and financial markets. Sovereign and railway securities were the top-most avenues of British capital flows during 1880-1913. Railways were risky ventures characterised by high capital intensity, high upfront investments, long breakeven times and significant sunk costs, and were therefore structured as emergent Build-Operate-Transfer schemes, with both public and private shades in ownership and management. As a result of the characteristic nature of railway securities, governments had to mitigate significant severe information asymmetries in order to attract investment. A key means to achieve this was to employ reputable underwriters to raise railway financing on global stock exchanges. Underwriters acted as 'match-makers' between borrowers, investors and third parties like government (also acting as guarantors) and reduced information asymmetries by signalling their informed status or by acting as delegated monitors. By the end of nineteenth century, underwriters had an established market in sovereign securities, but their participation was even more critical to the success of railway securities. Investors paid close attention to the relationship between underwriters and borrowers especially under episodes of financial distress. In this context, and taking lead from Flandreau and Flores (2009), I argue that underwriters' market power and prestige guided investors to associate their name with safer products and built investor confidence in financing railway projects globally. In this background, the project aims to explores the under-researched role of underwriters, specifically the House of Barings in financing railways during 1880-1913. While I am already working on the evolution and shape of underwriter networks in railway financing over time during my Economic History Society Fellowship, I would extend this research in two directions.First, how did underwriters of railway issues behave during tranquil and crisis times? Arguably, shared financial intermediaries, underwriting both government and railway securities, can potentially have a detrimental effect during crisis episodes through possible spillovers from government to railways or vice versa. Exploring this question would highlight whether shared financial intermediaries acted as a channel for contagion during crisis times.Second, related to the above, what was the role of market-based solutions in the enforcement of railway debt contracts? Generally, bondholder committees improve market governance in terms of reducing the frequency of defaults and potential haircuts. In the aftermath of the Barings crisis of 1890, both sovereign and guaranteed railways were part of debt restructuring episodes in several Latin American nations such as Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela. While research has focused on the relevance of market-based solutions for sovereign debt restructuring, debt of guaranteed railways has been neglected. Overall, analysing debt restructuring has implications for our understanding on how global financial architecture was shaped in the aftermath of the crisis.I will use the Stock Exchange Yearbook, the Investors Monthly Manual and a scarcely used resource, the correspondences and ledgers of Barings agents in Argentina to understand how the network of intermediaries behaved during different phases of the business cycle. The project contributes to the literature on the global history of capitalism, financial history and railway financing during 1880-1913 in two ways. First, it expands our understanding on the role of underwriters during 1880-1913 in railways which has exclusively focused on sovereign securities. Second, the project would give a better understanding on the role of underwriters during crisis episodes. In this vein, it would contribute towards understanding the channels that can potentially result in contagion.