Anglo-Swedish economic relations and the crisis of 1857

The British Parliamentary committee appointed to inquire into the causes of the financial panic of 1857 drew attention to three sets of circumstances which in its view had combined to bring about the crisis in England: an unprecedented increase in foreign trade, an excessive importation of precious metals, a monstrous development of the credit system. 1 Of these factors it is the expansion of credit that has received the largest share of attention. In particular it has been said that British exports to the countries of Northern Europe were encouraged by a system of excessive credit.