
Book contents
- There Will Be the Devil to Pay
- Studies in Macroeconomic History
- There Will Be the Devil to Pay
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Frontispiece
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Central Bankers and Their World
- 3 Preparing for Crisis (May 11–May 19)
- 4 Foreign Creditors (May 16–May 25)
- 5 Moratorium or Guarantee? (May 25–May 27)
- 6 Guarantee at Last? (May 26–June 1)
- 7 Releasing the BIS Credit (May 29–June 5)
- 8 Surrounded with Trouble (June 5–June 10)
- 9 Where and How to Place? (June 8–June 13)
- 10 A World Political Problem (June 11–June 16)
- 11 Francis Rodd Makes Sense – and a Plot (June 9–June 20)
- 12 To Act Now If We Are to Act at All (June 16–June 27)
- 13 Germany Will Collapse (June 19–July 10)
- 14 Anxiety within Germany at Climax (July 11–July 23)
- 15 Going Off the Gold Standard? (July 14–August 21)
- 16 We Must Not Fool Ourselves Now (August 21–September 17)
- 17 As for the Future of England (September 16–October 23)
- The End (2024)
- Timeline
- Actors in the 1931 Financial Crisis Archives
- Acknowledgements
- Archives
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Central Bankers and Their World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 December 2024
- There Will Be the Devil to Pay
- Studies in Macroeconomic History
- There Will Be the Devil to Pay
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Frontispiece
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Central Bankers and Their World
- 3 Preparing for Crisis (May 11–May 19)
- 4 Foreign Creditors (May 16–May 25)
- 5 Moratorium or Guarantee? (May 25–May 27)
- 6 Guarantee at Last? (May 26–June 1)
- 7 Releasing the BIS Credit (May 29–June 5)
- 8 Surrounded with Trouble (June 5–June 10)
- 9 Where and How to Place? (June 8–June 13)
- 10 A World Political Problem (June 11–June 16)
- 11 Francis Rodd Makes Sense – and a Plot (June 9–June 20)
- 12 To Act Now If We Are to Act at All (June 16–June 27)
- 13 Germany Will Collapse (June 19–July 10)
- 14 Anxiety within Germany at Climax (July 11–July 23)
- 15 Going Off the Gold Standard? (July 14–August 21)
- 16 We Must Not Fool Ourselves Now (August 21–September 17)
- 17 As for the Future of England (September 16–October 23)
- The End (2024)
- Timeline
- Actors in the 1931 Financial Crisis Archives
- Acknowledgements
- Archives
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In chapter 2, central bankers and their world, I first present the most important protagonists and a few other actors. They include Montagu Norman and Harry Siepmann of Bank of England, George L. Harrison of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Francis Rodd of the Bank for International Settlements. I discuss their background and worldview as they were headed into the 1931 crisis. Having presented these main actors and a few others, I proceed to present their world and how they saw it in 1930 and early 1931. The world was already in the midst of the great depression and private bankers as well as central bankers and other decision-makers were aware that they were dealing with crisis and radical uncertainty that might bring about the end of the gold standard and capitalism. I discuss the actors view of the "present world depression" and how they viewed the gold standard and their options as they got ready for trying to save the world from economic disaster.
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- There Will Be the Devil to PayCentral Bankers, Uncertainty and Sensemaking in the European Financial Crisis of 1931, pp. 22 - 46Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025