Lombard Street: A Description; Of the Money Market (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Walter Bagehot

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1330203534 ISBN 13: 9781330203538

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2019

Synopsis

Excerpt from Lombard Street: A Description; Of the Money Market The composition of this little book has occupied a much longer time than, perhaps, my readers may think its length or its importance deserves. It was begun as long ago as the autumn of 1870; and though its progress has been often suspended by pressing occupations and imperfect health, I have never ceased to work at it when I could. But I fear that in consequence, in some casual illustrations at least, every part of the book may not seem, as the lawyers would say, 'to speak from the same time.' The figures and the examples which it is most natural to use at one time are not quite those which it is most natural to use at another; and a slowly written book on a living and changing subject is apt a little to want unity in this respect. I fear that I must not expect a very favourable reception for this work. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

About this title

Review

People panicked during a credit crunch or economic downturn on London's Lombard Street of the 1800s just as they do on Wall Street today. That's just one reason this reprint of a classic book by famed 19th-century economist Walter Bagehot offers lessons even now. First published in 1873, the book is a compilation of 11 essays that Bagehot wrote as the editor of The Economist and includes his advice to banks for dealing with financial crisis "we must keep a great store of ready money always available, and advance out of it very freely in periods of panic, and in times of incipient alarm. Any notion that money is not to be had, or that it may not be had at any price, only raises alarm to panic and enhances panic to madness."

With the U.S. savings-and-loans crisis and the Asian economic meltdown of the 1990s, Bagehot's words still ring as timely, even with dated references to British politics of the time. For example, he proposed allowing unstable banks to collapse and advocated for creating an independent finance professional to run the nation's central bank. Lombard Street, named after London's financial district and the birthplace of the money market, will be an eye-opener for students and others interested in the history and workings of financial systems. --Dan Ring, Amazon.com

Review

"...classic account of the money market...makes vivid reading" (Spectator Business, November 2008)

About this edition

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1330203534
• ISBN 13: 9781330203538
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 373