Was ging der Implementierung des 'Lender of last Resort' voraus ? Es war die 'überraschende' Erfahrung, dass restriktive Geldpolitik und echter Goldstandard, also effektive Inflationsprophylaxe, Blasen und Krisen inklusive deren Eskalation zur Panik nicht verhindert hatten: By the act of 1844 Parliament undertook to make the notes of the Bank of England secure and limit the issue of bank notes of all other banks in the realm. With a stable currency redeemable in gold, Sir Robert Peel believed that fear and distrust, the bases of panics, would be banished from English commerce, and panics would cease, and yet three years after the passage of the act (1847) the country experienced a panic, and ten years thereafter (1857) one of the greatest financial panics ever known shook the English banking and commercial world from center to circumference, to be followed in 1866 by still a third panic of intense severity. ..Every Bank of England note outstanding is practically a gold certificate, since the bank has gold on hand to pay on demand every note that it has put in circulation, except the comparatively small portion of the reserve represented by the debt, and which is partially covered by the bank's surplus. These notes are a legal tender, as long as the bank is able to redeem them in gold. By thus keeping a redemption fund of gold in the bank vaults sufficient to actually redeem the notes in circulation, the element of credit is entirely taken out of the circulat-ing medium of the United Kigdom, and the note holder knows that he can get its face value in gold at any moment. This stability of the currency, it was believed by the supporters of the Peel Act, would banish all fear from the minds of note holders and prevent the hoarding of gold. But the panics of 1847, 1857 and 1866 were not prevented by the stability of the currency, and in fact the panic of 1866 was only allayed by the announcement that the Bank of England had authority from the government to issue notes in excess of the redemption fund on hand. On the worst day of the panic, May 11, 1866, called "Black Friday," the bank found its reserve in the Banking Department reduced to nearly £3,000,000 at the close of business. That evening the chancellor of the exchequer recommended that the bank act be suspended, and this was promptly done by the government. The announcement on the following morning that the Bank of England had authority to issue notes beyond the limit to whatever extent was necessary, quieted the fears of the people, and affairs returned to their normal condition. Ordinarily the banking department has no power to borrow of the issue department. It may take notes to the issue department and exchange them for gold or vice versa, the same as outside persons, but during each of the three panics, viz., 1847, 1857 and 1866, the government suspended the bank act, and permitted the banking department to borrow notes from the issue department without depositing gold in exchange. No doubt the knowledge of the fact that this has been done in the past and will be done again in case future emergencies require it, will have a strong tendency to prevent panics in future. This suspension of the banking act in case of panic or great emergency is the only elasticity of the English currency.' Read more: http://chestofbooks.com/finance/economics/...R42x_Jm_ap#ixzz2KyRZlI30 ----------- Pessimismus ist irrelevant |