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This book offers a specialized and revealing study of the Bank of England's gilt-edged market operations during the mid-twentieth century.
List of contents
1. Introduction; 2. Price and quantity discovery, market making and liquidity in the gilt market; 3. Government securities and the structure of the Stock Exchange; 4. Government debt management before 1928; 5. The gilt market and the Issue Department 1928-39; 6. Government debt management and the gilt market in the Second World War; 7. Post-War: 1945-51; 8. The gilt market from the reactivation of monetary policy until 1960; 9. Gilt market liquidity in the 1960s; 10. The high tide of intervention: 1960-66; 11. The conflict with monetary policy recognised and addressed: 1967-70; 12. Competition and credit control, 1970-72; 13. The Bank of England's contribution to market liquidity; 14. Governance in practice; 15. Conclusions; 16. Epilogue: bearing the cost of providing liquidity.
About the author
William A. Allen is a Visitor at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. He worked at the Bank of England from 1972 to 2004, serving as a senior official in the Gild-Edged Division from 1982 to 1986.
Summary
This book analyzes the operations of the Bank of England in the gilt-edged market during the mid-twentieth century. Drawing heavily on the archives and daily ledgers of the Bank of England, William A. Allen presents a specialized and revealing study of the practice and governance of British monetary policy.
Additional text
Advance praise: 'The size of the public debt is often discussed, but the mechanics of how it is issued and managed have been quite obscure despite the importance for financial markets and interest rate policy. Allen draws on archive records to tell a compelling and detailed story of how the Bank of England manipulated the market over almost fifty years. On the way he offers an important insight into the Bank of England's relationship with the market and with the Treasury in the decades before monetarism. Must reading for those seeking to understand the British economy and financial markets from the 1920s to the 1970s.' Catherine Schenk, University of Oxford
