  This paper presents a detailed analysis of how liquid money market
instruments -- sterling bills of exchange -- were produced during the first
globalisation. We rely on a unique data set that reports systematic information
on all 23,493 bills re-discounted by the Bank of England in the year 1906.
Using descriptive statistics and network analysis, we reconstruct the complete
network of linkages between agents involved in the origination and distribution
of these bills. Our analysis reveals the truly global dimension of the London
bill market before the First World War and underscores the crucial role played
by London intermediaries (acceptors and discounters) in overcoming information
asymmetries between borrowers and lenders on this market. The complex
industrial organisation of the London money market ensured that risky private
debts could be transformed into extremely liquid and safe monetary instruments
traded throughout the global financial system.
