Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-07T16:26:51.786Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The British attempt to manage long-term interest rates in 1962–1964

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2016

William A. Allen
William A. Allen*
Affiliation:
Cass Business School
*
William A. Allen, Senior Visiting Fellow and member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Banking Research, Cass Business School, 106 Bunhill Road, London ec1y 8tz; email: bill@allen-economics.com.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The British monetary authorities tried to encourage lower long-term interest rates through their government debt management operations between 1962 and 1964, following the Radcliffe report's recommendation that they should have an objective for long-term rates, and with the intention of supporting the government's pursuit of faster economic growth. The implementation of the policy was complicated by the Bank of England's role as a market maker in the government securities market, and beset by misunderstandings among the monetary authorities. The policy was abandoned when the conditions of strong market demand for bonds on which it depended changed. The article describes how the policy was developed and implemented, and the impact of political preferences on it.

Keywords

long-term interest ratesdebt managementmonetary policyBank of EnglandTreasurygiltsRadcliffe

JEL classification

N24: Europe: 1913– E52: Monetary Policy H63: Debt • Debt Management • Sovereign Debt E65: Studies of Particular Policy Episodes E58: Central Banks and Their Policies
Type
Articles
Information
Financial History Review , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , April 2016 , pp. 47 - 70
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Banking and Financial History e.V. 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Sources

ArchivesGoogle Scholar
Bank of England Archive (BOE)Google Scholar
National Archives (NA)Google Scholar
Printed sourcesGoogle Scholar
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin (BEQB), various issuesGoogle Scholar
House of Commons Parliamentary Debates (HC Deb)Google Scholar
Radcliffe Report (1959). Report of the Committee on the Working of the Monetary System. London: HMSO Cmnd 827.Google Scholar

References

Allen, W. A. (2014). Monetary Policy and Financial Repression in Britain, 1951–59. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Attard, B. (1994). The jobbers of the London Stock Exchange: an oral history. Oral History, 22 (1), pp. 43–48.Google Scholar
Attard, B. (2000). Making a market: the jobbers of the London Stock Exchange, 1800-1986. Financial History Review, 7 (1), pp. 5–24.Google Scholar
Capie, F. (2010). The Bank of England 1950s to 1979. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dell, E. (1997). The Chancellors. London: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Fforde, J. S. (1983). Setting monetary objectives. Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Q2, pp. 200–8.Google Scholar
Henry, S. G. B and Ormerod, P. A. (1978). Incomes policy and wage inflation: empirical evidence for the UK 1961–1977. National Institute Economic Review, 85, pp. 31–9.Google Scholar
Holtfrerich, C.-L. (1999). Monetary policy under fixed exchange rates (1948–70). In Deutsche Bundesbank, Fifty Years of the Deutsche Mark. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 307–402.Google Scholar
Horne, A. (1989). Macmillan 1957–1986. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Howson, S. (1993). British Monetary Policy 1945–51. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lamb, R. (1995). The Macmillan Years 1957–1963: The Emerging Truth. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Macmillan, H. (1973). At the End of the Day. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Michie, R. C. (1998). The London Stock Exchange: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Morgan, E. V. and Thomas, W. A. (1962). The Stock Exchange: Its History and Functions. London: Elek Books.Google Scholar
Pember and Boyle [firm] (1976). British Government Securities in the Twentieth Century: Supplement 1950–76. Privately published.Google Scholar
Ringe, A. (1998a). Background to Neddy: economic planning in the 1960s. Contemporary British History, 21 (1), pp. 82–98.Google Scholar
Ringe, A. (1998b). The National Economic Development Council 1962–67. Contemporary British History, 21 (1), pp. 99–130.Google Scholar
Ringe, A. and Rollings, N. (2000). Responding to relative decline: the creation of the National Economic Development Council. Economic History Review, 53 (2), pp. 331–53.Google Scholar
Swanson, E. (2011). Let's Twist again: a high-frequency event-study analysis of Operation Twist and its implications for QE2. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Spring, pp. 151–95.Google Scholar
Thorpe, D. R. (1989). Selwyn Lloyd. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
Thorpe, D. R. (2011). Supermac: The Life of Harold Macmillan. London: Pimlico Press.Google Scholar
Tomlinson, J. (1985). British Macroeconomic Policy Since 1940. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Wormell, J. (1999). The Management of the National Debt of the United Kingdom 1900–1932. London: Routledge.Google Scholar