Overview

In 2001, the London Stock Exchange will be 200 years old, though its origins go back a century before that. This book traces the history of the London Stock Exchange from its beginnings around 1700 to the present day, chronicling the challenges and opportunities it has faced, avoided, or exploited over the years. Throughout, this history seeks to blend an understanding of the London Stock Exchange as an institution with that of the securities market of which it was, and is, such an important component. One cannot be examined satisfactorily without the other. Without a knowledge of both, for example, the causes of the `Big Bang' of 1986 would forever remain a mystery. However, the history of the London Stock Exchange is not just worthy of study for what it reveals about the interaction between institution and market. Such was the importance of the London Stock Exchange that its rise to world dominance before 1914, its decline thereafter, and its renaissance from the mid-1980s, explain a great deal about Britain's own economic performance and the working of the international economy. For the first time a British economic institution of foremost importance is studied throughout its entire history, with regard to the roles played and the constraints under which it operated, and the results evaluated against the background of world economic progress.

Full Product Details

9780198295082

Table of Contents

Reviews

Full of insight into the operation of the London money market. It is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the City and the financial system, and he [Michie] provides a strongly argued defence of the operation of markets. But it should also be read by a wider range of historians who are interested in social relationships within a commercial society, a theme of increasing interest amongst historians of modern Britain ... Many of the themes in Michie's book should allow them to start a long and fruitful conservation. London Journal A rare combination of romance and impersonality ... he [Michie] has a better technical grasp than any other historian of how the exchange functioned ... His book will become a major work of reference and a resource for anyone interested in this major element in the City of London. It also has much wider implications for an understanding of modern Britain. London Journal Ranald Michie's massive history of the Stock Exchange is undeniably a formidable achievement, going far beyond previous accounts. It is the product of not only heroic research ... but also a sure grasp of how securities markets work ... His book, in short, transforms our understanding of a key national institution. David Kynaston, Times Literary Supplement As a work of reference, with a quite exceptional amount of well-documented and detailed material, this book is invaluable. Colin Leach, Financial Times This is a fascinating and well-told story that should have wide appeal. It will be the standard reference for a long time. And it is something of an achievement to produce a book on this subject that can carry the reader along so effortlessly. Business History

`a useful account of the formal structures of the London Stock Exchange' Christopher Armstrong, Business History Review `No one familiar with Professor Ranald Michie's earlier work ... will be surprised that he has produced a superb volume that will almost certainly be the last institutional history of the first two hundred years of the London Stock Echange ... carefully drawn and thorough ... His book is a must-read for any student of British and world finance, of formal security markets, and of British economic history, and an almost-must-read for anyone with a general interest in economic history.' Lance Davis, Journal of Economic History `This is a fascinating and well-told story that should have wide appeal. It will be the standard reference for a long time. And it is something of an achievement to produce a book on this subject that can carry the reader along so effortlessly.' Forrest Capie, Business History `It is very far from a narrow treatment of finance, touching as it does on so many aspects in the economy.' Forrest Capie, Business History `Is a fascinating and well-told story that should have wide appeal.' Forrest Capie, THES `This is a solid work of original historical research that gives the reader many interesting insights and raises important questions for practitioners and policy makers as well.' Larry Neal, EH.NET, Aug 2000. `Written on the basis of an intensive examination of the records of the London Stock Exchange, his work will now be the standard reference on the London Stock Exchange.' Larry Neal, EH.NET, Aug 2000. `this masterly official history of the London Stock Exchange' E. Moggridge, Choice, Sept. 00. `With a sure command of the secondary literature plus the records of the Exchange, Michie ... traces the Exchange's 19th-century rise to world dominance ... Very stongly recommended.' E. Moggridge, Choice, Sept. 00. `Michie has written extensively about stock changes, particularly in England, but also in other countries and different periods. He is an authority ... this is a fascinating and well-told story that should have wide appeal.' Forrest Capie, The Times Higher Education Supplement, 29th Sept. 2000. ""In 2001, the London Stock Exchange will be 200 years old; it deserves its history and has received it here in full measure..."" ""This is a work of scholarship and the author has made full use of the stock exchange's records, going back to 1798, as well as of a wealth of secondary material concerning the City of London and the firms in it. It is exceptionally useful as showing the internal workings of the exchange."" Colin Leach, Financial Times, 05/01/2000 ""Does the stock market deserve its bad reputation? Has is been a drag on the economy or an asset? The answer, as Ranald Michie shows in what will surely rank as the definitive history, depends on which period one is looking at."" Geoffrey Owen, Daily Telegraph, 16/01/2000 ""In explaining the causes and consequences of the Stock Exchange's failings, Michie casts fresh light on a much misunderstood aspect of the British economy decline."" Geoffrey Owen, Daily Telegraph, 16/01/2000 `Written on the basis of an intensive examination of the records of the London Stock Exchange, his work will now be the standard reference on the London Stock Exchange' Professor Larry Neal, University of Illinois, EH.NET

Full of insight into the operation of the London money market. It is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the City and the financial system, and he [Michie] provides a strongly argued defence of the operation of markets. But it should also be read by a wider range of historians who are interested in social relationships within a commercial society, a theme of increasing interest amongst historians of modern Britain ... Many of the themes in Michie's book should allow them to start a long and fruitful conservation. London Journal A rare combination of romance and impersonality ... he [Michie] has a better technical grasp than any other historian of how the exchange functioned ... His book will become a major work of reference and a resource for anyone interested in this major element in the City of London. It also has much wider implications for an understanding of modern Britain. London Journal Ranald Michie's massive history of the Stock Exchange is undeniably a formidable achievement, going far beyond previous accounts. It is the product of not only heroic research ... but also a sure grasp of how securities markets work ... His book, in short, transforms our understanding of a key national institution. David Kynaston, Times Literary Supplement As a work of reference, with a quite exceptional amount of well-documented and detailed material, this book is invaluable. Colin Leach, Financial Times This is a fascinating and well-told story that should have wide appeal. It will be the standard reference for a long time. And it is something of an achievement to produce a book on this subject that can carry the reader along so effortlessly. Business History

Author Information

Ranald Michie is Professor of History at the University of Durham, where he has been since 1974. He has also held visiting research fellowships in both the United States and Canada and has delivered papers in numerous international institutions. His international speciality is the history of stock exchanges having conducted research in both the British Isles and North America.

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