Frequent lenders and the credit market of Lima. An analysis of notarized loans

Abstract This article examines the role of frequent lenders in the credit market of Lima between 1840 and 1865. Frequent lenders were wealthy individuals, many of them merchants or proprietors. Their credit activity was not concentrated among the richest borrowers in Lima; they also served middle- and low-income individuals. In addition, they diversified risk by lending to borrowers from different sectors. Consistent with the hypothesis that frequent lenders knew borrowers better than occasional lenders, they incurred less regularity in repeated lending.