My last PHD dissertation defense at Harvard, and it was a great one! My Azerbaijani student Sama Mammadova gave us a history of consumer banking from the Renaissance to the 18th c. Next time you go to your local bank, remember that we owe the practice of lending to the poor and less well off to the Franciscans. It was first advocated by the Observant Franciscans of 15th c. Italy, who talked Pope Leo X (a Medici!) in 1515 into authorizing the practice of allowing interest to be charged on loans -- under the guidance of canon law of course (which established a principle for deciding on a just interest rate). So forget the old 'Weber thesis'-- this was 2 years before the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation! @ufhamilton @LawLiberty @PostlibOrder