Hello all.

I've been looking into the Westphalian state finances lately (which makes some of the EU's current troubles seem like child's play!) A recurring theme is the attempt to issue "forced bonds" that people are required to buy. I assume that Jerome's government was not alone in this practice, nor the innovator?

How many other states used "forced bonds" during the Napoleonic Wars. What's the earliest example, at least during the Revolutionary / Napoleonic period?

They seem not to work very well; the projected sums are never attained. But of course the rates can be artificially suppressed. (Westphalia's last legitimate bonds were issued at a whopping 8.5%, but by that point the bond markets in central Europe had been pretty much strangled, and those were usually large individual investors.)

thanks in advance,

Sam