Betting on lives : the culture of life insurance in England, 1695-1775 / Geoffrey Clark.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clark, Geoffrey Wilson, 1959-

Series:

Politics, culture, and society in early modern Britain

Politics, culture and society in early modern Britain

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gambling--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Gambling.

Life insurance--Social aspects--Great Britain.

Life insurance.

Life insurance--Social aspects.

History.

Great Britain.

Life insurance--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Great Britain--Civilization--18th century.

Civilization.

Great Britain--Social life and customs--18th century.

Manners and customs.

Physical Description:

xiv, 241 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York : Distributed exclusively in the USA by St. Martin's Press, 1999.

Summary:

Betting on Lives uses the early history of life insurance as a lens through which to examine the economic, social, cultural and intellectual history of eighteenth-century England. Illegal almost everywhere else in Europe, life insurance in England was vigorously promoted in the three decades following the Glorious Revolution of 1688. While serving as a means of prudential risk-avoidance, life insurance also appealed strongly to the gambling instincts of England's burgeoning middling sort. Life insurance consequently provided a vehicle for gambling until 1774, when parliament forbade the making of wagers on people's deaths. In these formative years life insurance embodied the practical aspirations of Newtonian science, the improving spirit of moral reform and the zeal of a vibrant commercial society intent on protecting against loss as it created new opportunities for investment.

Betting on Lives challenges conventional accounts of the sober growth of the insurance industry and reveals the troublesome philosophical issues surrounding a business that gambled on providential outcomes.

The book will interest specialists in early modern European history, historical sociologists as well as a broader audience of history enthusiasts who will want to discover the surprising origins and development of a ubiquitous modern institution. By examining the rise of life insurance institutions in eighteenth-century England, the book offers new insights into the economic, cultural and intellectual history of a commercial society learning to apply speculative techniques to the management of risk.

Contents:

1 Life insurance in Europe: origins and legal development 13

2 Life insurance in its cultural context 33

3 The life insurance business in its formative years 71

4 Demographic calculation and the management of investment 114

5 The social composition of the life insurance market 155

Epilogue: Life insurance, science, and the construction of capitalism 193

Appendix 1 Life insurance societies, 1696-1721 203

Appendix 2 Mortality assumptions and ages enrolled in life societies 207.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-231) and index.

ISBN:

0719056756

OCLC:

41338628