England's Cross of Gold: Keynes, Churchill, and the Governance of Economic Beliefs

403 Pages·2021·1.453 MB·English

by  James Ashley Morrison

ENGLAND’S CROSS OF GOLD
A volume in the series
Cornell Studies in Money
Edited by Eric Helleiner and Jonathan Kirshner
A list of titles in this series is available at cornellpress.cornell.edu
ENGLAND’S CROSS
OF GOLD
KEYNES, CHURCHILL, AND THE
GOVERNANCE OF ECONOMIC BELIEFS
James Ashley Morrison
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
Ithaca and London
Copyright © 2021 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review,
this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any
form without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage
House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.
First published 2021 by Cornell University Press
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Morrison, James Ashley, 1980– author.
Title: England’s cross of gold : Keynes, Churchill, and
the governance of economic beliefs / James Ashley
Morrison.
Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press,
2021. | Series: Cornell studies in money | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020046850 (print) | LCCN 2020046851
(ebook) | ISBN 9781501758423 (hardcover) | ISBN
9781501758447 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501758430 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Gold standard—England—History—
20th century. | Monetary policy—England—History—
20th century. | Great Britain—Economic policy—
1918–1945.
Classification: LCC HG950.E54 M85 2021 (print) | LCC
HG950.E54 (ebook) | DDC 332.4/222094109042—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046850
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046851
Cover photo: A Queen Victoria gold sovereign from
Victoria’s jubilee year of 1889, courtesy of
www.bullionbypost.co.uk.
To Maggie

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Transcription xiii
Part One: Introductory 1
1. Genesis and Exodus: The Tragedy
of England’s Return to Gold 3
2. The Road to Calvary: From Orthodoxy
to Theocracy 18
Part Two: Orthodoxy 39
3. The Cunliffe “Consensus” 41
4. Atop Sinai: More Heat Than Light 47
5. The Golden Calf: The Public
Idolize Gold 64
6. Commandments: Defining the Law 94
Part Three: Mythology 109
7. Myths: Theirs and Ours 111
8. Liberalization: Implementing the
Orthodoxy 115
9. Who Would Control Capital? 133
10. Keynes’s Revolution 145
Part Four: Theocracy 167
11. Understanding “The Norman
Conquest of $4.86” 169
12. Central Bankers as Saviors? 180
viii Contents
13. Indulgence 210
14. Deposition and Coronation 235
15. The Sanhedrin: Churchill’s Trials 248
16. Judgment 268
Part Five: Conclusion 287
17. Faith in History 289
Notes 313
Sources and Bibliography 367
Index 379
Acknowledgments
Two decades ago, Richard Boyd prompted me
to consider the political consequences of John Locke’s particular understand-
ing of money. Pursuing this simple question has proved more engaging and
enriching than I could have imagined. It has begot a family of related ques-
tions across several fields. First, theoretically, what is the role of “the inven-
tion of money” in liberal accounts of the origins and purpose of political
society? Next, historically, how did Locke’s rendering of currency as a contract
between individuals and between individuals and their sovereign shape the
Glorious Revolution, the birth of the Bank of England, and the Great Recoin-
age? In the field of International Political Economy, did the anointing of the
metallic pound necessitate the mercantilism it engendered—the ineluctable im-
perial struggle for precious metals and the draconian controls at home? Nor-
matively, were the benefits of an inflexible gold sovereign worth the austere,
arbitrary, and asinine policies that often followed? Last, in economics, is it pos-
sible to bind the sovereign to a different mast—to a different metric of macro-
economic stability beyond just the price of gold in London? Any one of these
questions could drive a lifetime of scholarship.
As a first step, this book addresses Richard’s original question from the op-
posite direction. It asks, What does it take to evolve beyond Locke’s monetary leg-
acy? It takes us to that moment one century ago in which the old orthodoxy
faced unprecedented challenges, mounted a heroic (although tragic) response,
and ultimately collapsed. It retraces the first crucial steps by which Keynes’s
revolutionary understanding of money—as a social-political-economic con-
struct with a variable relationship to all material objects—became the new
orthodoxy. For now, it must remain to explore the full complement of the con-
sequences of Mr. Keynes.
These past years, the gold standard has been my daily bread. And there are
few in my life who have not helped to advance the pursuit of it. I cannot fully
express my gratitude in printed words, but I will try to specify the many ways
in which others have made this book far better than it would have otherwise
been.
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