In a globalised world, when financial crisis strikes, can countries which are well-integrated into the world financial system escape? Recent experience suggests not. In the early 1930s, Britain's openness at the centre of the world financial system left it vulnerable, particularly to the central...

British banks have long attached great importance to capital. Currently they are subject to greater scrutiny and regulation on this issue than ever before. However, it was not until the disclosure of 'hidden reserves' in 1970 that a true picture of British banks' capital emerged. This article...

This article uses contemporary business records to provide the first authoritative empirical breakdown of the general characteristics of English commercial bank lending to industrial firms in the three and a half decades before the First World War. The results confirm that the bulk of commercial...