Paying for privilege: the political economy of Bank of England charters, 1694-1844

The Bank of England was established by Parliament in 1694 as an explicitly temporary institution, which could be dissolved upon one year’s notice after the 11-year life guaranteed by its initial charter had passed. Renewed nine times between 1694 and 1844, we argue that the element of renegotiation inherent in the Bank’s existence reflected uncertainty, by both Parliament and the Bank, and we test this hypothesis by analyzing the timing of the renewals of the Bank’s charter. We find renegotiation of the charter was initiated by Parliament when the Crown’s budgetary circumstances, shaped by unforeseen military expenditures, required additional funds and when the monopoly value of the Bank’s charter rose.     

Conflict on a global scale: Social imperialism and sub-imperialism — continuities in the structural theory of imperialism

The usual economic theory of imperialism needs to be supplemented by concepts which take into account ‘social’ imperialism and imperialism by ‘delegation’. These concepts are useful in understanding conflicts which are emerging within the Soviet bloc and between the imperialist structure (including the capitalist as well as socialist powers) as a whole and the dominated periphery countries. The Soviet Union is seen as exercising a particular form of imperialism over its subordinate countries, and as fulfilling the role of a sub-imperialist centre in the increased coordination between the capitalist imperial forces.     

Estimating Long-Run Incarceration Rates for Australia,Canada, England and Wales,New Zealand,and the United States

Compiling data from dozens of archival sources, I assemble the most extensive series to date of the long-run imprisonment rate for five English-speaking nations: Australia, Canada, England and Wales, New Zealand, and the United States. These series are constructed as a share of adults rather than the entire population, and I discuss why the latter can be misleading. In the late-nineteenth century, Australia had the highest incarceration rate of these nations. Today, the United States has the highest rate. With the exception of Canada, incarceration rates have risen markedly since the mid-1980s. These new series are made available in full, to allow other researchers to explore the consequences and causes of incarceration.     

The U.S. Specie Standard, 1792-1932: Some Monetarist Arithmetic

A new monetary base series is presented for the United States from 1789 to 1932, when the country was on an actual or potential specie standard. The series builds on the Friedman-Schwartz monetary base series and extends it back in time. Monetary balance of payments series are generated, consistent with the monetary base. The time span 1792-1932 is divided into subperiods primarily based on the identification of a monetary authority, also including the greenback period and classic gold standard. Results for the monetary base, exchange market pressure, and economic performance are presented on that basis. The classic gold standard (1879-1913) is undeniably superior to all other periods.     

The Policy Choices and Reaction Functions of Bank of England MPC Members

The results of an econometric exercise are presented, showing that Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members appointed from outside the ranks of Bank of England staff (outsiders) react differently to forecasts of inflation and output than those appointed from within the Bank (insiders). All results are reinforced by the well‐established findings that, compared with outsiders, insiders choose higher interest rates, are more likely to vote as a bloc, and feature on the winning side of policy decisions more frequently. On the basis of these results, it is argued that the current MPC framework is biased toward the policy choices of insiders.