The Banks and the Monetary System in the UK, 1959-1971

The annual Monetary Surveys published in the Midland Bank Review have become an established and authoritative source of reference for all students of money and banking and related topics, and for those concerned with general economics and current affairs.

This superb volume brings together reprints of these Surveys with a selection of special articles published in the Review since the 1959 Radcliffe Report on the working of the monetary system. In his introduction the editor discusses in outline Britain’s financial dilemma. The period covered is an interesting and exciting one{emru}economic conditions in the UK were swinging from achievement in the early 19605 to near calamity, and in the international monetary field policy moved from convertibility for current transactions through tighter restrictions and devaluation, to the experiments of 1971.

The book is set out in four sections. The first section contains articles dealing mainly with official activities in the management of government debt, of the money supply, and of the banking system. In the second section are five articles describing and analysing London’s money market operations, and examining the swift growth of non-bank financial intermediaries and the markets in which they are active, including the Eurodollar market. These are followed by the annual Monetary Surveys for the years 1959 to 1971, which tell the story of the struggle to preserve the parity of sterling, the devaluation of 1967, and the consequences for Britain’s position at home and abroad; they also record developments in banking and the first effects of the new methods of credit control. The final section of appendices presents up-to-date statistics and charts and relevant documents illustrating the monetary and economic background of the period covered. This excellent text was first published in 1973.