This paper examines the Swedish record of competition in the supply of bank notes in the 19th century. Between 1831 and 1902, private commercial banks, organized as partnerships with unlimited liability for their owners, issued notes competing with the notes of the Riksbank, the bank owned by...

According to the classical view, an economy's lender of last resort should be its central bank. For brief periods of time, the bank might suspend convertibility in order to provide the liquidity needed to support the domestic credit market. Recent experience of financial crises demonstrates the...

In the classical monetary debates, the Banking School held that notes would be equally demand-elastic whether supplied by many or a single issuer. The Free Banking School held that notes would be less demand-elastic if supplied by a single issuer. These assertions have rarely, if ever, been...

In the classical monetary debates, the Banking School held that notes would be equally demand-elastic whether supplied by many or a single issuer. The Free Banking School held that notes would be less demand-elastic if supplied by a single issuer. These assertions have rarely, if ever, been...

According to the classical view, an economy's lender of last resort should be its central bank. For brief periods of time, the bank might suspend convertibility in order to provide the liquidity needed to support the domestic credit market. Recent experience of financial crises demonstrates the...

This paper explores the actions of the Bank of England and the Banque de France in promoting international economic stability during the mid-nineteenth century. The evidence presented below indicates that the Bank of England acted in concert with the Bank of France, through France's reliance on...

This paper finds that in 1824 and 1825 the Bank of England failed to understand the extent of its influence over economic activity and thus together with the Government made serious policy errors that led to the 1825 crisis. Specifically, I argue that the second post-war debt conversion caused a...

This brief paper sets forth the evidence that the 1814 campaign against Napoleon was financed using techniques that had become borderline acceptable in Britain after the Suspension, but were illegal on the Continent, and that they succeeded only because the Bank of England was induced to expand...

This paper situates the early history of the Bank of England in the 17th century environment where the circulation of specie-based coin caused it to wear down, prompting debasement by monetary authorities (Lane and Mueller 1985). Thus, the 19th Gold Standard was only possible because of prior...

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...