IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/oxf/wpaper/455.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Cochrane, 2009. "Explaining London's Dominance in International Financial Services, 1870-1913," Economics Series Working Papers 455, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:455
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:4292ac3e-dc00-4c07-a7be-810cbf210830
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marc Flandreau & Clemens Jobst, 2005. "The Ties that Divide: A Network Analysis of the International Monetary System, 1890-1910," Working Papers hal-01065599, HAL.
    2. Paul Krugman & Anthony J. Venables, 1995. "Globalization and the Inequality of Nations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 857-880.
    3. Cassis,Youssef, 2006. "Capitals of Capital," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521845359.
    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.
    5. 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.
    6. Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur & Angelo Riva, 2007. "The Paris financial market in the 19th century: an efficient multi-polar organization?," Working Papers halshs-00587812, HAL.
    7. Flores, Juan-Huitzi, 2007. "Lending booms, underwriting and competition : the baring crisis revisited," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp07-01, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Crafts, N F R & Leybourne, S J & Mills, Terence C, 1989. "The Climacteric in Late Victorian Britain and France: A Reappraisal of the Evidence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 4(2), pages 103-117, April-Jun.
    11. Gehrig, Thomas, 1998. "Cities and the Geography of Financial Centres," CEPR Discussion Papers 1894, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    13. Jacks, David S. & Meissner, Christopher M. & Novy, Dennis, 2011. "Trade booms, trade busts, and trade costs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 185-201, March.
    14. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/605 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Flandreau, Marc & Flores, Juan H., 2009. "Bonds and Brands: Foundations of Sovereign Debt Markets, 1820–1830," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(3), pages 646-684, September.
    16. Rui Pedro Esteves, 2008. "Between Imperialism and Capitalism. European Capital Exports Before 1914," Working Papers 8022, Economic History Society.
    17. P. J. Cain & A. G. Hopkins, 1987. "Gentlemanly capitalism and British expansion overseas II: new imperialism, 1850-1945," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 40(1), pages 1-26, February.
    18. 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.
    19. repec:pse:psecon:2007-31 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stephen J. Redding, 2013. "Economic Geography: A Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Daniel Bernhofen & Rod Falvey & David Greenaway & Udo Kreickemeier (ed.), Palgrave Handbook of International Trade, chapter 16, pages 497-531, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Sarah Cochrane, 2009. "Assessing the Impact of World War I on the City of London," Economics Series Working Papers 456, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. repec:got:cegedp:31 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Kurt A. Hafner, 2011. "Trade Liberalization and Technology Diffusion," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(5), pages 963-978, November.
    5. Marano, Angelo, 2000. "Beyond The London-Frankfurt Dichothomy. What Space For The Other European Financial Centers?," ERSA conference papers ersa00p407, European Regional Science Association.
    6. Greenaway, David & Torstensson, Johan, 2000. "Economic Geography, Comparative Advantage and Trade within Industries: Evidence from the OECD," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 15, pages 260-280.
    7. Picard, Pierre M. & Toulemonde, Eric, 2006. "Firms agglomeration and unions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 669-694, April.
    8. Pierre Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Henry G. Overman, 2005. "Agglomeration and the adjustment of the spatial economy§," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(3), pages 311-349, August.
    9. Alberto Franco Pozzolo, 2004. "Research and Development, Regional Spillovers and the Location of Economic Activities," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 72(4), pages 463-482, July.
    10. Ademir Rocha & Fernando Perobelli, 2020. "Spatial distribution of logistics services in Brazil: A potential market analysis," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 185-217, February.
    11. Fujita, Masahisa & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2009. "New Economic Geography: An appraisal on the occasion of Paul Krugman's 2008 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 109-119, March.
    12. J.Peter Neary, 2001. "Of Hype and Hyperbolas: Introducing the New Economic Geography," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 536-561, June.
    13. Ralph Ossa, 2015. "A Quantitative Analysis of Subsidy Competition in the U.S," 2015 Meeting Papers 1107, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    14. Fabio Cerina & Francesco Pigliaru, 2007. "Agglomeration and Growth in the NEG: A Critical Assessment," Chapters, in: Bernard Fingleton (ed.), New Directions in Economic Geography, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Olivier Accominotti & Delio Lucena‐Piquero & Stefano Ugolini, 2021. "The origination and distribution of money market instruments: sterling bills of exchange during the first globalization," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(4), pages 892-921, November.
    16. Antonella Nocco, 2009. "Preference Heterogeneity And Economic Geography," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 33-56, February.
    17. Boiscuvier, Éléonore, 2001. "Innovation, intégration et développement régional," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 77(2), pages 255-280, juin.
    18. Gancia, Gino & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 2005. "Horizontal Innovation in the Theory of Growth and Development," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 3, pages 111-170, Elsevier.
    19. Pflüger, Michael & Tabuchi, Takatoshi, 2010. "The size of regions with land use for production," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 481-489, November.
    20. Paul Krugman, 1999. "The Role of Geography in Development," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 22(2), pages 142-161, August.
    21. Karolina Ekholm & Katariina Hakkala, 2007. "Location of R&D and High-Tech Production by Vertically Integrated Multinationals," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(518), pages 512-543, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial services; City of London; Pre-WWI; Agglomeration; CGE simulations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N23 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:455. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Anne Pouliquen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sfeixuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.