Affiliation:
1. Banque de France and Sciences Po , pamfili.antipa@sciencespo.fr
2. Boston University and Paris School of Economics
Abstract
Abstract
Relying on new quantitative and qualitative data, we analyze how the United Kingdom financed the French Wars (1793–1821). We show that policy makers adjusted monetary and fiscal policies in four regimes. 1) tax-smoothing; 2) suspending the gold standard, real bills, war taxation; 3) the Bank of England's price support of government securities; 4) return to the old order. Under the price support regime, the Bank of England maintained the market value of public short-term debt by purchasing large amounts of it. Our findings suggest that in this context fiscal news shocks rather than fluctuations in the money supply caused inflation.
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous),History