Monetary Policy and Financial Repression in Britain, 1951 - 59 [electronic resource] /
Allen, W.author.
British monetary policy was reactivated in 1951 when short-term interest rates were increased for the first time in two decades. The book explores the politics of formulating monetary policy in the 1950s and the techniques of implementing it, and discusses the parallels between the present monetary situation and that of 1951.
Description based upon print version of record.
Cover; Contents; List of Figures and Tables; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. 1945-51: Labour's Macro-Economic Policies; 2.1 The state of the economy and the financial system; 2.2 Monetary policy; 3. 1951-52: The Reactivation of Monetary Policy; 3.1 The change of government; 3.2 Conservative fiscal policy; 3.3 How monetary policy was reactivated; 3.4 Academic reaction; 3.5 Reactivation of British monetary policy and the 'accord' in the U.S.A.; 4. 1952-54: Years of Growth; 4.1 Why external pressures eased?; 4.2 The debate on the effects of policy tightening; 4.3 The recovery of 1953-54
5. Moves towards Convertibility and Their Implications for Monetary Policy6. Short-term Interest Rates in Late 1952 to Mid-1954; 6.1 Two rate cuts; 6.2 Afterthoughts; 7. Government Debt Management 1952-54; 7.1 The government's financing needs; 7.2 Rolling over Serial Funding; 7.3 Market conditions improve; 7.4 Assessment; 8. The Debacle of 1955; 8.1 Changing market conditions, late 1954 to March 1955; 8.2 Two budgets and a credit squeeze; 8.3 The Tuke affair; 8.4 The immediate effects of the credit squeeze; 9. 1956: Macmillan as Chancellor; 9.1 Late 1955 to Spring 1956
9.2 The review of monetary organisation9.3 The Suez crisis; 10. 1957: The Year of Thorneycroft; 10.1 Recovery from the Suez crisis; 10.2 The Budget and phase 1 of the struggle over monetary policy; 10.3 Reserve losses, phase 2 of the struggle over monetary policy and the 7% Bank rate; 10.4 The working group on credit control and the aftermath of the struggle; 11. 1958: The Sunny Uplands; 11.1 Getting Bank rate down to 5%; 11.2 The end of the advances ceiling and the introduction of the Special Deposits scheme; 11.3 Getting Bank rate down to 4%, and Operation Unicorn
12. 1959: Here We Go Again12.1 Contemporary theories of inflation; 12.2 The Prime Minister, the 1959 election and economic policy; 12.3 The weakening of sterling and the beginning of a new cycle; 13. Monetary Policy Techniques; 13.1 Bank rate; 13.2 Operations in bills; 13.3 Operations in bonds; 13.4 Foreign exchange and gold operations; 14. Financial Repression; 14.1 Definition of financial repression; 14.2 Financial repression in Britain in the 1950s; 14.3 Moral suasion, or 'ear stroking'; 14.4 The effects and limits of financial repression
15. Management and Communication of Monetary Policy15.1 Power and influence; 15.2 Cobbold and his advisers; 15.3 Communication; 16. An Assessment of Monetary Policy; 16.1 Excess demand, inflation and inflationary expectations; 16.2 Criticisms of monetary policy; 16.3 Fiscal dominance; 16.4 The Radcliffe report; 16.5 Was there a better way?; 16.6 The expansionism of 1959; 17. Epilogue: The Next Reactivation of Monetary Policy; Appendix A: Macroeconomic and Financial Data; Appendix B: 'Above the Line' and 'Below the Line' in the Exchequer Accounts
Appendix C: Clause 4(3) of the Bank of England Act 1946
Includes bibliographical references and index.
British monetary policy was reactivated in 1951 when short-term interest rates were increased for the first time in two decades. The book explores the politics of formulating monetary policy in the 1950s and the techniques of implementing it, and discusses the parallels between the present monetary situation and that of 1951.
Macroeconomics.
Economic policy.
Great Britain—History.
Economic history.
Political economy.
History, Modern.
Macroeconomics/Monetary Economics//Financial Economics.
Economic Policy.
History of Britain and Ireland.
Economic History.
International Political Economy.
Modern History.