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“Storm in a Teacup? The Impact of War on the English Monetary System and Thought (1797-1821)”

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  • Ghislain Deleplace

    (LED - Laboratoire d'Economie Dionysien - UP8 - Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis)

Abstract

The aim of my contribution is at analysing the impact of a large-scale war of long duration on the monetary system and monetary thought. The case is that of England during and in the aftermath of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars with France (1793-1815). These wars provoked a major shock in the English monetary system: the Bank of England note was made inconvertible during more than twenty years and in 1813 the pound sterling had depreciated by one-third in terms of gold. After Waterloo, it took the pound four years to regain its value in gold, in the midst of a severe economic depression. However, the pre-war monetary system was resumed in 1821: the quarter-of-a-century parenthesis was simply closed. This return to "money as usual" was not for want of intense debates: it was the time of the "Bullionist Controversy" featuring among others Henry Thornton and David Ricardo. This case thus leads to a rather pessimistic conclusion: even a major shock like a long-lasting war seems to have no significant impact on either the monetary system or monetary thought. My contribution intends to account for this paradox. Publication: Deleplace, G. (2024 a), "Storm in a Teacup? The Impact of War on the English Monetary System and Thought (1797-1821)," in Marcuzzo, M. C. and Rosselli, A. (eds.), Money in Times of Crisis. Pre-Classical, Classical and Contemporary Theories, Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei Proceedings, à paraître.

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  • Ghislain Deleplace, 2022. "“Storm in a Teacup? The Impact of War on the English Monetary System and Thought (1797-1821)”," Post-Print hal-04429477, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04429477
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04429477
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Maria Cristina Marcuzzo & Annalisa Rosselli, 1994. "Ricardo's Theory of Money Matters," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 45(5), pages 1251-1268.
    2. Antoin Murphy, 2005. "Rejoinder to Skaggs's Treating schizophrenia: a comment on Antoin Murphy's diagnosis of Henry Thornton's theoretical condition," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 329-332.
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    5. Neil Skaggs, 2005. "Treating schizophrenia: a comment on Antoin Murphy's diagnosis of Henry Thornton's theoretical condition," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 321-328.
    6. Ghislain Deleplace, 2023. "Power Relations and Monetary Ideas: The Case of the Gold-Exchange Standard in India," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 394-406, April.
    7. Ghislain Deleplace, 2020. "Orthodox versus unorthodox views on Ricardo’s theory of money," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(6), pages 819-836, November.
    8. Ghislain Deleplace, 2013. "Marshall and Ricardo on note convertibility and bimetallism," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(6), pages 982-999, December.
    9. Skaggs, Neil T., 2003. "Thomas Tooke, Henry Thornton, and the Development of British Monetary Orthodoxy," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(2), pages 177-197, June.
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    Keywords

    Napoleonic wars; English monetary system; Ricardo; Thornton;
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