Credit for the poor: the decline of pawnbroking 1880–1930

This article is an attempt to explain the decline in pawnbroking over the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Europe, using detailed evidence from Karlskrona in Sweden, 1880–1930. I find that the decline is largely due to changes in demand for pawning, notably improved labor market conditions as reflected in rising real wages and employment opportunities. Instead, there is no evidence for an effect of changes in regulation, the availability of other sources of credit, or the expansion of the welfare system.