IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/bushst/v58y2016i2p283-308.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Business returns from gold price fixing and bullion trading on the interwar London market

Author

Listed:
  • Anthony John Arnold

Abstract

From September 1919, the world price of gold was 'fixed' daily in London by a small group of licensed traders. The arrangement was not ideal, as it advantaged the traders concerned, but it was seen by the Bank of England at the time as critical to British economy recovery and to the maintenance of London's position as a world trading centre. This article examines the available archival evidence on whether direct knowledge of the workings of the mechanism enabled Mocatta and Goldsmid, traders central to the operations of the 'gold fix', to earn unusually high profits across the interwar period.

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony John Arnold, 2016. "Business returns from gold price fixing and bullion trading on the interwar London market," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(2), pages 283-308, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:bushst:v:58:y:2016:i:2:p:283-308
    DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2015.1083012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00076791.2015.1083012
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00076791.2015.1083012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feinstein, Charles H. & Temin, Peter & Toniolo, Gianni, 1997. "The European Economy Between the Wars," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198774815.
    2. Burk, Kathleen, 1989. "Morgan Grenfell 1838-1988: The Biography of a Merchant Bank," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198283065.
    3. Stefano Ugolini, 2013. "The Bank of England as the World Gold Market Maker during the Classical Gold Standard Era, 1889–1910," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Sandra Bott (ed.), The Global Gold Market and the International Monetary System from the late 19th Century to the Present, chapter 3, pages 64-87, Palgrave Macmillan.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. O'Connor, Fergal A. & Lucey, Brian M., 2023. "The efficiency of the London Gold Fixing: From Gold Standard to hoarded commodity (1919-68)," eabh Papers 23-01, The European Association for Banking and Financial History (EABH).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Rosenkranz & Tobias Straumann & Ulrich Woitek, 2022. "The limits of internal devaluation: Switzerland during the great depression," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 158(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Nicholas Crafts & Peter Fearon, 2010. "Lessons from the 1930s Great Depression," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 26(3), pages 285-317, Autumn.
    3. Richardson, Gary & Van Horn, Patrick, 2018. "In the eye of a Storm: Manhattan's money center banks during the international financial crisis of 1931," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 71-94.
    4. Christopher L. Colvin, 2014. "Interlocking directorates and conflicts of interest: the Rotterdamsche Bankvereeniging, M�ller & Co. and the Dutch financial crisis of the 1920s," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 314-334, March.
    5. Fabrizio Perri & Vincenzo Quadrini, 2002. "The Great Depression in Italy: Trade Restrictions and Real Wage Rigidities," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(1), pages 128-151, January.
    6. Tiago Neves Sequeira, 2002. "The "Iberian Tigers" versus The "Celtic Tiger": Economic Growth Paths in an Economic History perspective," Nova SBE Working Paper Series wp416, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.
    7. Voth, Hans-Joachim, 2002. "Why was Stock Market Volatility so High During the Great Depression? Evidence from 10 Countries During the Interwar Period," CEPR Discussion Papers 3254, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. O’Rourke, Kevin Hjortshøj, 2019. "Economic History and Contemporary Challenges to Globalization," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(2), pages 356-382, June.
    9. Kevin Hjortshøj O'Rourke, 2018. "Economic history and contemporary challenges to globalization," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _167, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    10. Kirsten Wandschneider & Nikolaus Wolf, 2010. "Shooting on a moving target: explaining European bank rates during the interwar period," International Journal of Economics and Business Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(1/2), pages 31-48.
    11. Epstein, Philip & Howlett, Peter & Schulze, Max-Stephan, 1999. "Income distribution and convergence: the European experience, 1870-1992," Economic History Working Papers 22387, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    12. Paul A. David & Gavin Wright, "undated". "General Purpose Technologies and Surges in Productivity: Historical Reflections on the Future of the ICT Revolution," Working Papers 99026, Stanford University, Department of Economics.
    13. Wolf, Nikolaus, 2005. "Path dependent border effects: the case of Poland's reunification (1918-1939)," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 414-438, July.
    14. Stuart Sweeney, 2009. "Indian railroading: floating railway companies in the late nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(s1), pages 57-79, August.
    15. Paul A. David & Gavin Wright, 2005. "General Purpose Technologies and Productivity Surges: Historical Reflections on the Future of the ICT Revolution," Economic History 0502002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Rosés, Joan R. & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2008. "Prosperity and depression in the European economy and during interwar years (1913-1950) : an introduction," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp08-10, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    17. Michael D. Bordo, 2017. "An Historical Perspective on the Quest for Financial Stability and the Monetary Policy Regime," NBER Working Papers 24154, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Betrán, Concepción & Huberman, Michael, 2024. "Unintended consequences: International trade shocks and electoral outcomes during the Second Spanish Republic, 1931–1936," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    19. Zhu, Haikun, 2018. "Essays on political economy of finance and fintech," Other publications TiSEM 93f94423-e671-4041-bb24-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. Wolf, Nikolaus, 2008. "Scylla and Charybdis. Explaining Europe's exit from gold, January 1928-December 1936," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 383-401, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:bushst:v:58:y:2016:i:2:p:283-308. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/FBSH20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.