The Bank of England
1950s to 1979

This history of the Bank of England takes its story from the 1950s to the end of the 1970s.

Forrest Capie (Author)

9780521192828, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 July 2010

920 pages, 53 b/w illus. 38 tables
23.5 x 16.5 x 5.5 cm, 1.35 kg

'A masterful, well-contextualised account of the Bank at the summit of its traditional responsibilities and the peak of its personnel. Authoritative and meticulous yet accessible and colourful, it is an indispensable addition to postwar financial and economic history. Along with forerunner volumes by Clapham, Sayers and Fforde, Capie's study is destined to become a classic.' Richard Roberts, King's College London

This history of the Bank of England takes its story from the 1950s to the end of the 1970s. This period probably saw the peak of the Bank's influence and prestige, as it dominated the financial landscape. One of the Bank's central functions was to manage the exchange rate. It was also responsible for administering all the controls that made up monetary policy. In the first part of the period, the Bank did all this with a remarkable degree of freedom. But economic policy was a failure, and sluggish output, banking instability and rampant inflation characterised the 1970s. The pegged exchange rate was discontinued, and the Bank's freedom of movement was severely constrained, as new approaches to policy were devised and implemented. The Bank lost much of its freedom of movement but also took on more formal supervision.

1. Introduction and overview
2. The Bank in the 1950s
3. The monetary setting and the Bank
4. The Bank's external responsibilities to 1964
5. From crisis to 'crucifixion'
6. Domestic monetary policy after Radcliffe
7. Other activities and performance
8. Sterling from devaluation to Smithsonian
9. The road to competition and credit control
10. Competition and credit control
11. The secondary banking crisis
12. Banking supervision
13. Monetary targets and monetary control
14. The Bank and sterling in the 1970s
15. The Bank's freedom to operate
16. Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Macroeconomics [KCB]