This paper studies the development of the practice of central banking in the early 19th century by engaging in a detailed analysis of the Bank of England's changing policies with respect to its discounts and lending to the private sector. To set the scene, the practices that characterized the...

This paper argues that the British financial system in the era prior to World War I provides modern policymakers with a successful model of how to stabilize the banking system. This model had two components: incentives were structured to ensure that all banks that originated or traded assets on...

We present a financial history of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) using a new dataset derived from the Bank of England minutes. We argue that the war and the associated actions of the Bank of England led to a transformation of the financial system. Additionally, while there was short-term...