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The article presents an examination into the commercial history of the Brabant region in Belgium during the 18th century, highlighting the growth and development of "respectability" as a socioeconomic good wielded by the middle class. Contextual information is provided regarding an economic crisis in the Brabantine town of Lier during the 1720s and its commercial consequences. Discussion is then given contrasting material culture and consumption patterns with social and economic class features of the era.

The article aims to present an explanation for the complete absence of public municipal banks in the Southern Low Countries, and particularly in its two main principalities Flanders and Brabant, between 1400 and 1800. The reasons were complex, lying in a combination of the presence of adequate substitutes such as money changers, cashiers and town exchange offices (stadswissels) and countervailing factors (adverse economic conditions, insufficient financial resources, special interests of persons and lobbies). It is also argued that strong government control of the Antwerp urban debt prevented the local authorities from experimenting with a municipal bank. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]