This article examines the evolution of the Russian government's policies between 1861 and 1917 in the sphere of rural credit, especially the extent to which social and cultural factors and ministerial politics impinged on the choice of banks and their development. Discussions concerned measures for economic change that could take place within the traditional and legal framework of the village community. The Ministry of Interior supported a classbased estate bank. The Ministry of Finance opted for the cooperative credit association which was to foster rural pacification and agricultural development by mobilizing peasant collective habits and private initiative that favored cooperative organizations.

We use the universe of probate and vital registers from England between 1838 and 2018 to document the status of the Irish in England. We identify the “Irish” in the records as those individuals with distinctively Irish surnames. From at least the mid-nineteenth century to 2018, we find that the Irish in England have persisted as an underclass, being on average 50 percent poorer than the English. Infant mortality was about 25 percent higher for the Irish between the 1830s and the mid-twentieth century but has subsequently equalized. Sorting, both to urban areas and to the North of England, are important elements in the Irish experience. We discuss the potential roles of selective migration, social mobility, and discrimination in this and signpost directions for future research.