Endorsements functioned as a private substitute for credit agencies

Evidence

In the nineteenth century, as in the twentieth century, the economy floated on a sea of credit. Credit, however, was a high-​risk matter. This was an age of huge swings in the business cycle, an age without credit agencies, without computerized credit services, without deposit insurance—​and without a firm, solid, dependable banking system. It was a life-​and-​death matter to know your debtor, and whether he was going to be able to pay. A circulating note, in proper form, was legally valid, and negotiable. But whether the people who signed it or endorsed it were solvent: that was another matter entirely. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 1583

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Financial regulation was outsourced to quasi-private bodies like rating agencies — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 156

Broader Connections

• Financial regulation was outsourced to quasi-private bodies like rating agencies #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 156