Through a close reading of scattered, disparate, and largely unconnected secondary sources, supplemented with the analysis of primary sources, and backed by economic theory, this paper explores the origins, development, and socio-economic impact of so-called cosignatory lending institutions. These historical institutions were designed to issue small loans to small businesses and households and shared a reliance on cosigners to secure loans and on weekly instalments to repay them. Their shared lending format was flexible enough to display regional variations and this enabled cosignatory lending institutions to operate in societies characterized by notable differences in wealth and economic structure. It also allowed cosignatory lending institutions to fare better in a more urbanized, heterogeneous context than the more well-known credit cooperatives. As such, this systematic overview helps us better understand how credit markets were made more inclusive in urban contexts, which historical circumstances played a role in this, and perhaps even whether and how the success of cosignatory lending institutions may be replicated in present-day developed and less-developed economies.

中文翻译：

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信用中介的历史多样性：欧洲和北美的联合贷款机构，1700 年代至 1960 年代

通过仔细阅读分散的、不同的和基本上不相关的次要来源，辅以对主要来源的分析，并以经济理论为后盾，本文探讨了所谓的联合贷款机构的起源、发展和社会经济影响。这些历史悠久的机构旨在向小企业和家庭发放小额贷款，并依赖共同签名人来获得贷款，并依靠每周分期付款来偿还贷款。他们共享的贷款形式足够灵活，可以显示地区差异，这使得联名贷款机构能够在财富和经济结构存在显着差异的社会中运作。它还允许联名贷款机构在一个更加城市化、异构上下文比更知名的信用合作社。因此，这种系统的概述有助于我们更好地了解信贷市场如何在城市环境中变得更具包容性，哪些历史环境在这方面发挥了作用，甚至可能在当今发达地区是否以及如何复制联名贷款机构的成功和欠发达的经济体。