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Explaining London's Dominance in International Financial Services, 1870-1913

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Author Info
Sarah Cochrane
Abstract

Contemporaries and historians have highlighted London’s position as the world’s leading financial centre, and its dominance of both trade financing and international capital investment at this time. The current historical literature focuses on the presence of the London Stock Exchange and Britain’s role as leader of the Gold Standard as the key reasons behind the City’s position. This paper presents a richer explanation, that treats the international financial services industry as a footloose sector that can migrate around the globe. By focusing on how the individual merchant banks operated and the forces that were important in driving the banks to agglomerate to the City, this work provides an alternative explanation for London’s dominance of financial services prior to 1913, and can explain how London was able to maintain its position for so long, despite competition from other centres.

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Paper provided by University of Oxford, Department of Economics in its series Economics Series Working Papers with number 455.

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Date of creation: 2009
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Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:455

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Related research
Keywords: Financial services; City of London; Pre-WWI; Agglomeration; CGE simulations;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
N23 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: Pre-1913
F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Country and Industry Studies of Trade
G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Mortgages

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  3. Michael Storper & Anthony J. Venables, 2004. "Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 351-370, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "History and Industry Location: The Case of the Manufacturing Belt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 80-83, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-99, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Flandreau, Marc & Jobst, Clemens, 2005. "The Ties that Divide. A Network Analysis of the International Monetary System," CEPR Discussion Papers 5129, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Davis, Lance & Neal, Larry & White, Eugene N., 2003. "How it all began: the rise of listing requirements on the London, Berlin, Paris, and New York stock exchanges," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 117-143. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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