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Not an ordinary bank but a great engine of state: the bank of England and the British economy, 1694-1844

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  • O'Brien, Patrick
  • Palma, Nuno

Abstract

From its foundation as a private corporation in 1694 the Bank of England extended large amounts of credit to support the British private economy and to support an increasingly centralized British state. The Bank helped the British state reach a position of geopolitical and economic hegemony in the international economic order. In this paper we deploy recalibrated financial data to analyse an evolving trajectory of connexions between the British economy, the state, and the Bank of England. We show how these connections contributed to form an effective and efficient fiscal-naval state and promoted the development of a system of financial intermediation for the economy. This symbiotic relationship became stronger after 1793. The evidence that we consider here shows that although the Bank was nominally a private institution and profits were paid to its shareholders, it was playing a public role well before Bagehot’s doctrine

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  • O'Brien, Patrick & Palma, Nuno, 2022. "Not an ordinary bank but a great engine of state: the bank of England and the British economy, 1694-1844," CEPR Discussion Papers 15400, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15400
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    Cited by:

    1. Leticia Arroyo Abad & Nuno Palma, 2020. "The Fruits of El Dorado: The Global Impact of American Precious Metals," Economics Discussion Paper Series 2003, Economics, The University of Manchester, revised May 2021.
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    3. Nuno Palma & Carolyn Sissoko, 2022. "Crowding in During the Seven Years' War," Economics Discussion Paper Series 2211, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    4. Adam Brzezinski & Nuno Palma & François R. Velde, 2024. "Understanding Money Using Historical Evidence," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 16(1), pages 571-595, August.
    5. Morgan, Horatio M., 2024. "An Integrative Institutional Framework on the Canada-U.S. Business Performance Gap," MPRA Paper 119739, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. António Henriques & Nuno Palma, 2023. "Comparative European Institutions and the Little Divergence, 1385–1800," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 259-294, June.
    7. Adam Brzezinski & Roberto Bonfatti & K. KıvançKaraman & Nuno Palma, 2020. "Monetary Capacity," Economics Series Working Papers 926, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bank of england; State-building institutions; National defence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • N13 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N23 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N43 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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