Under the classical gold standard (1880-1914), the Bank of France maintained a stable discount rate while the Bank of England changed its rate very frequently. Why did the policies of these central banks, the two pillars of the gold standard, differ so much? How did the Bank of France manage to...

This paper examines whether improved geographical access to the central bank contributed to local credit development in France during the Belle Époque (1880–1913). I use a new data set of credit by administrative area (département) in order to test the effect of the Bank of France network of...