Monetary policy, 1833-9 : with special reference to the Anglo-American crisis of 1837
| Autor: | Ledward, WP |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2023 |
| Předmět: |
Banks and banking -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
Great Britain -- Foreign economic relations -- United States Monetary policy -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century Bank of England -- History United States -- Foreign economic relations -- Great Britain Banks and banking -- United States -- History -- 19th century |
| Popis: | This is a study of the monetary policy followed by the Bank of England between the years 1833 and 1839 - the instruments that it used to try to achieve the objective of specie convertibility chosen by Parliament. The approach adopted is non-quantitative, because of data limitations, and institutional. This has the advantage of allowing study of a sub-sector of the financial system usually bypassed in monetary histories - the seven London and Liverpool merchant banks which were at the centre of Anglo-American trade and finance. A second theme is to emphasise the importance of divisions over policy among the Directors of the Bank of England. These led to frequent changes of direction which did much to diminish the Bank's reputation among contemporaries and historians. The conclusion is broadly favourable to the Bank of England, or at least that part of it led by Horsley Palmer which was responsible for the evolution of 1830's policy. In particular, the acknowledgement by the Bank of its duty to act as a lender of last resort attracts praise, as having prevented the complete collapse of the British financial system during the crises of 1837 and 1839. With the benefit of hindsight, some criticisms can be made: the most important is that the Bank was too rigid in its response to external developments and it allowed itself too little discretion in the formation of policy. But it was acting within the context of the monetary philosophy of the time, which was strongly antipathetice to giving too much power to any one institution. And, if a more discretionary policy had been adopted, it must be doubted whether this would have been much more successful, for the lesson of the monetary history of the 1830's is that monetary control is very difficult to achieve in a sophisticated financial system. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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