This history of the Bank of England takes its story from the 1950s to the
end of the 1970s.
This period probably saw the peak of the Bank's influence and prestige, as it
dominated the financial landscape. One of the Bank's central functions was to manage the
exchange rate. It was also responsible for administering all the controls that made up
monetary policy. In the first part of the period, the Bank did all this with a remarkable
degree of freedom. But economic policy was a failure, and sluggish output, banking
instability, and rampant inflation characterized the 1970s. The pegged exchange rate was
discontinued, and the Bank's freedom of movement was severely constrained, as new
approaches to policy were devised and implemented. The Bank lost much of its freedom of
movement but also took on more formal supervision.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction and overview
2. The Bank in the 1950s
3. The monetary setting and the Bank
4. The Bank's external responsibilities to 1964
5. From crisis to 'crucifixion'
6. Domestic monetary policy after Radcliffe
7. Other activities and performance
8. Sterling from devaluation to Smithsonian
9. The road to competition and credit control
10. Competition and credit control
11. The secondary banking crisis
12. Banking supervision
13. Monetary targets and monetary control
14. The Bank and sterling in the 1970s
15. The Bank's freedom to operate
16. Epilogue.
920 pages, Hardcover