Abstract
The City is unique: no other international commercial, banking and financial centre has ever enjoyed such a lengthy and continuous period of operation — over 250 years.1 And in this crucially important respect, Britain is consequently also unique: no other industrialised society has ever acted as host to a centre which has undertaken such a large share of the world capitalist system’s commercial, banking and financial activities. Britain was not only the ‘workshop of the world’, but also its ‘clearing house’ and whilst the former status has long been lost, the latter — despite some recent competition from other centres — has not. The consequences of this enduring economic activity for the development of the dominant classes, the state system, and the economy of Britain can scarcely be over estimated.
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Notes and References
The following account is based primarily on: William M. Clarke, The City in the World Economy (Harmondsworth; Penguin, 1965), and Inside the City (London: Allen of Unwin, 1979);
Derek F. Channon, British Banking Strategy and the International Challenge (London: Macmillan, 1977); Report of the Committee to Review the Functioning of the Financial Institutions (Wilson Report) HMSO Cmnd. 7937 (London: 1980); Evidence by the Committee of London Clearing Banks to the Committee to Review the Functioning of Financial Institutions (London: 1977); London as an International Banking Centre, Evidence from the British Bankers’ Association for the Committee to Review the Functioning of Financial Institutions, (London: 1977);
G.A. Fletcher, History of the London Discount Market (London: Macmillan, 1976);
Hamish McRae and Frances Cairncross, Capital City (London: Magnum, 1977).
See also Richard Minns, Take over the City: The Case for Public Ownership of Financial Institutions (London: Pluto Press, 1982);
Yao-Su Hu, National Attitudes and the Financing of Industry (London: PEP, 1975).
J.R. Sargent, ‘UK Performance in Services’, in F. Blackaby, (ed.) De-Industrialisation (London: Heinemann, 1979) p. 105.
Quoted in Anthony Sampson, The Changing Anatomy of Britain (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1981) p.279.
Ibid; Rondo Cameron (ed.) Banking in the Early Stages of Industrialisation (London: Oxford University Press, 1967) ch.2.
Marcello de Cecco, Money and Empire (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1974).
P.L. Cottrell, British Overseas Investment in the Nineteenth Century (London: Macmillan, 1975) p.30.
The gold standard was in reality a gold — sterling standard. See David Williams, ‘The Evolution of the Sterling System’ in C.R. Whittlesey and J.S.G. Wilson, (eds) Essays in Money and Banking (Oxford University Press, 1968) pp.266–7.
Barrington Moore Jr, The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1967).
E.V. Morgan and W.A. Thomas, The Stock Exchange (London: Allen & Unwin, 1962).
Richard Minns, Pension Funds and British Capitalism (London: Heinemann, 1980).
J. Revell, The British Financial System, (London: Macmillan 1973) p.251.
E.R. Shaw, The London Money Market (London: Heinemann, 1981) p.5.
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© 1984 Geoffrey Ingham
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Ingham, G. (1984). The City: Origins, Structure and Practices. In: Capitalism Divided?. Contemporary Social Theory. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-86082-1_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-86082-1_3
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