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13 - Central Banks in the British Dominions in the Interwar Period

from Part II - Specific

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2023

By
John Singleton
Edited by
Barry Eichengreen  and
Andreas Kakridis
Barry Eichengreen
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Andreas Kakridis
Affiliation:
Bank of Greece and Panteion University, Athens
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Summary

The interwar decades saw the emergence of central banking institutions in the prosperous white settler ‘dominions’ of Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and Canada. Local political and business interests promoted central banks with a view to fostering domestic economic and financial stability, while the Bank of England and British government imagined a chain of central banks across the empire that would support their policies. Given that financial markets in the dominions were underdeveloped, it was difficult for the new central banks control monetary conditions, mirroring problems in Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, the British discovered that they could not impose their ideas on the dominions, especially when local economic concerns conflicted with those of the imperial centre.

Keywords

AustraliaBank of EnglandBritish empireCanadacentral banksmonetary policyNew ZealandSouth Africasterling area
Type
Chapter
Information
The Spread of the Modern Central Bank and Global Cooperation
1919–1939
 , pp. 352 - 382
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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