Lombard Street
A Description of the Money Market

Published in 1873, this is Bagehot's masterpiece on financial crisis management, described by J. M. Keynes as 'an undying classic'.

Walter Bagehot (Author)

9781108035811, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 29 December 2011

372 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.47 kg

Walter Bagehot (1826–77), the influential political and economic essayist, wrote a number of books that became standards in their respective fields. He attended University College, London, where he studied mathematics and gained a master's degree in intellectual and moral philosophy. He was called to the bar, but instead chose a career in his father's banking business. He wrote widely on literature, economics and politics, co-founding the National Review in 1855. He became editor-in-chief of The Economist in 1860 and remained in that post until his death. This work, published originally in 1873 and described by J. M. Keynes as 'an undying classic', is a masterpiece of economics. It explains the world of finance and banking, concentrating on crisis management, and its ideas are as relevant today as ever, especially in the face of the global financial crisis that emerged in 2007.

Prefatory note
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1. Introductory
2. A general view of Lombard Street
3. How Lombard Street came to exist, and why it assumed its present form
4. The position of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the money market
5. The mode in which the value of money is settled in Lombard Street
6. Why Lombard Street is often very dull, and sometimes extremely excited
7. A more exact account of the mode in which the Bank of England has discharged its duty of retaining a good bank reserve, and of administering it effectually
8. The government of the Bank of England
9. The joint stock banks
10. The private banks
11. The bill brokers
12. The principles which should regulate the amount of the banking reserve to be kept by the Bank of England
13. Conclusion
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ]