Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Was British industrialisation exceptional?
- Part I The origins of British primacy
- Part II Agriculture and industrialisation
- Part III Technological change
- Part IV Institutions and growth
- 8 The monetary, financial and political architecture of Europe, 1648–1815
- 9 Towards the comparative fiscal history of Britain and France during the ‘long’ eighteenth century
- 10 Money and economic development in eighteenth-century England
- Part V War and Hegemony
- Conclusions
- References
- Index
10 - Money and economic development in eighteenth-century England
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Was British industrialisation exceptional?
- Part I The origins of British primacy
- Part II Agriculture and industrialisation
- Part III Technological change
- Part IV Institutions and growth
- 8 The monetary, financial and political architecture of Europe, 1648–1815
- 9 Towards the comparative fiscal history of Britain and France during the ‘long’ eighteenth century
- 10 Money and economic development in eighteenth-century England
- Part V War and Hegemony
- Conclusions
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
In the course of the eighteenth century Britain emerged as the leading industrial and financial power. Over that same period the state grew enormously and taxed and borrowed on a large and growing scale. Across the 127-year period from 1688 to 1815 tax rose sixteen-fold and borrowing 240-fold (O'Brien, 1994).
Clearly something remarkable happened that allowed government to tax and borrow on these unprecedented scales. Some of the answer must lie in the transformation that was taking place in the behaviour of markets generally and in finance particularly. The likelihood is that a big part of the explanation can be found in fiscal affairs and in the establishment of reliable bond markets using improved financial instruments, backed by the credibility of parliament (see Neal, 1990). Wars were financed by the issue of short-term debt (army bills, navy bills, etc.). Long-term securities were used to retire the short-term debt. Long-term debt was less expensive and was improving in quality over the century, notably with the introduction of irredeemable 3 per cent Consols in the middle of the century. This kind of funding was carried out after the wars.
But within this explanation, is there a greater role for the contribution of money than has usually been granted? This chapter begins with a short recitation of some of the general considerations that provide the foundation that was either necessary for, or complemented, monetary developments.
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- Information
- Exceptionalism and IndustrialisationBritain and its European Rivals, 1688–1815, pp. 216 - 232Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004
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