The Political Economy of the Special Relationship: Anglo-American Development from the Gold Standard to the Financial Crisis

Jeremy Green

Published by Princeton University Press 2020

The Political Economy of the Special Relationship

Anglo-American Development from the Gold Standard to the Financial Crisis

Jeremy Green

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691201610

Overview
Contents

About this book

How America's global financial power was created and shaped through its special relationship with Britain

The rise of global finance in the latter half of the twentieth century has long been understood as one chapter in a larger story about the postwar growth of the United States. The Political Economy of the Special Relationship challenges this popular narrative. Revealing the Anglo-American origins of financial globalization, Jeremy Green sheds new light on Britain’s hugely significant, but often overlooked, role in remaking international capitalism alongside America.

Drawing from new archival research, Green questions the conventional view of international economic history as a series of cyclical transitions among hegemonic powers. Instead, he explores the longstanding interactive role of private and public financial institutions in Britain and the United States—most notably the close links between their financial markets, central banks, and monetary and fiscal policies. He shows that America’s unparalleled post-WWII financial power was facilitated, and in important ways constrained, by British capitalism, as the United States often had to work with and through British politicians, officials, and bankers to achieve its vision of a liberal economic order. Transatlantic integration and competition spurred the rise of the financial sector, an increased reliance on debt, a global easing of regulation, the ascendance of monetarism, and the transition to neoliberalism.

From the gold standard to the recent global financial crisis and beyond, The Political Economy of the Special Relationship recasts the history of global finance through the prism of Anglo-American development.

Author / Editor information

Jeremy Green is lecturer in international political economy and fellow of Jesus College, University of Cambridge. He is the author of Is Globalization Over? and the coeditor of The British Growth Crisis.

Reviews

"This well-crafted, convincing book provides a political economy of the Anglo-American special relationship as opposed to a more conventional diplomatic historical account. Green has written an excellent study that combines detailed empirical and theoretical analysis from across a wide range of disciplines."—Peter Burnham, University of Birmingham

"This superb book pulls off an impressive feat: it places financial and monetary history in a compelling theoretical framework and shows readers that the standard state-centric international political economy accounts, with their cyclical dynamics of rising and declining hegemons, are only part of the story. Combining encyclopedic knowledge, archival work, and economic policy analysis, this is international political economy at its very best."—Matthias Matthijs, Johns Hopkins University

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Conceptualizing Anglo-American Development Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
2. The Great Reversal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
3. Bretton Woods and the Keynesian State Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
4. The Euromarkets and the Crisis of Bretton Woods Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
5. In the Eye of the Storm Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
6. Internalizing Discipline Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
7. A Crisis of Anglo-America Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232
8. From Crisis to Stagnation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	333