International banking, 1870-1914 PDF
Preview International banking, 1870-1914
International Banking 1870-1914 This page intentionally left blank International Banking 1870-1914 EDITED BY RONDO CAMERON V. I. BOVYKIN WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF Boris Anan'ich, A. A. Fursenko, Richard Sylla, and Mira Wilkins New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1991 Oxford University Press Oxford New York Toronto Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Melbourne Auckland and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1991 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means. electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data International banking, 3870-1914 / edited by Rondo Cameron and V. I. Bovykin with the assistance of Boris Anan'ich . . . [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN0-19-506271-X 1. Banks and banking, International—History. I. Cameron, Rondo E. II. Bovykin, Valerli Ivanovich. III. Anan'ich, B, V. HG3881.1575123 1991 332.1'5'09034—dc20 89-26656 CIP 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Royalties from this book accrue to the International Research and Exchanges Board, an affiliate of the American Council of Learned Societies. This page intentionally left blank Preface The idea of carrying out a coliaborative study, the results of which are submitted here, first arose at the Eighth International Economic History Congress in Budapest (1982), in the course of the work of Section B-10, "Transformation of Banking Structures in the Industrial Period." The interaction of production and credit in the process of capitalist development, and the role of banks therein, has long been the subject of study by economists and historians. The problems involved have been discussed more than once at congresses of the International Economic History Association. The Second Congress (Aix-en- Provence, 1962) focused on the problem of capital formation in the early stages of industrialization. The Fifth Congress (Leningrad, 1970) examined the role of bank credit in economic development. While these studies were aimed at establishing the role of banks as factors in economic development and, in particular, pursued the task of defining their place in the course of industrialization of individual countries, the participants in Section B-10 at the Budapest Congress were concerned with elucidat- ing the reciprocal effects of industrialization processes on the banks and the changes occurring in them as they adapted themselves to the requirements of industrial develop- ment. The papers presented there and the discussion of them showed that in order to understand the mechanism of transformation of bank structures in individual countries at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, when the integration and internationalization of capital markets intensified sharply, it is especial- ly important to examine the international aspects of the development of banking. Originally, we planned to examine two aspects: (1) the impact of international factors on the formation of financial systems in separate countries, and (2) the relation- ship between banks and multinational enterprises. But in the process of elaborating the structure of the project we decided to treat specially the activity of foreign banks as channels of foreign investments through case studies of several countries in the history of which foreign capital played a particularly conspicuous role. Because this role differed from country to country, countries were singled out as objects of study that differed in the character and level of economic development and also in their political status. It should be stressed that both Part I (International Factors in the Formation of Banking Systems) and Part II (Foreign Banks and Foreign Investment) examine the integral process of internationalization of bank structures. But in Part I the accent is on the development of domestic banks, whereas in Part II it is on the activity of foreign banks. This is why chapters devoted to the United States and Russia appear in both viii Preface sections. Other countries are discussed either in Part I or in Part II depending on whether the accent is on elucidating the processes of formation of banking systems in these countries or defining the impact produced on them by foreign banks. Although we have included many countries and regions in our study, and hope thereby to have a representative sample of both capital-exporting and capital-importing nations, it was obviously impossible within the limits of our finances to include all countries and regions of the world. It is a matter of regret, nevertheless, that we did not include chapters on two small but important capital exporters, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Initially the difficulty of identifying appropriate participants constrained us; and the quantitative dimensions of their capital exports did not seem to make their omission important. As our study developed, however, the strategic international im- portance of their banking systems, especially that of Switzerland, became clearer. We hope that other scholars will remedy this deficiency. Professor A. A. Fursenko of the Institute of History of the USSR in Leningrad first suggested undertaking the project at the Budapest Congress. The preliminary plan of the study, which became an activity of the US-USSR Commission on the Human- ities and the Social Sciences of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, was drawn up in April 1983 at a meeting in Moscow of Professors Bovykin and Cameron, in which Professor Fursenko and Pro- fessor Boris Anan'ich, also of Leningrad, likewise participated. A further planning conference took place in Atlanta in September 1984, in which Professors Richard Sylla and Mira Wilkins participated, along with Anan'ich, Bovykin, and Cameron. Mean- while, the other participants had been identified and contacted, and permission was received from the Rockefeller Foundation to hold a conference at the foundation's Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy. At that meeting, August 19-23, 1985, preliminary drafts of all the chapters were discussed. Most of the participants presented brief resumes of their studies at the Ninth International Congress of Economic History in Berne, Switzerland, in August 1986. A final editorial meeting took place in San Francisco in September 1987, in connection with the annual meeting of the Economic History Association, with the participation of Anan'ich, Bovykin, Cameron, Sylla, and Wilkins. Dr. Ruth Roosa also participated in that meeting. The book was substan- tially complete by the summer of 1988, at which time Oxford University Press agreed to publish it. We had hoped to present it at the Tenth International Economic History Congress in Leuven, Belgium, in August 1990, but unforseen delays repeatedly postponed publication. Because we believe this project to be unusual if not unique in the annals of collaborative international research in history and social science, a few words about the nature of our collaboration are in order. It should be obvious from our nationalities and institutional affiliations that the participants do not all belong to the same school of historical or social science research, yet we are all conscientious scholars seeking to discover the truth about the past. Although we sometimes differ in our interpretations of the significance of past events—that is the reason for two separate concluding sections in the final chapter—at no time in our collaboration have ideological differ- ences prevented fruitful discussions of the facts or hindered full and frank consider- ation of the issues. We hope that our fortunate experience, along with parallel develop- ments in the loftier spheres of international politics and statecraft, augurs well for the Preface ix future of peaceful, productive international collaboration in all aspects of the human endeavor. Administrative and financial support for the project has been provided by the International Research and Exchanges Board, an affiliate of the American Council of Learned Societies, and by the USSR Academy of Sciences under the agreement on scientific cooperation between the Soviet Academy and the American Council. The Rockefeller Foundation generously provided hospitality for the Bellagio meeting, and additional financial support for travel expenses for that meeting came from the Maison des Sciences de 1'Homme (Paris) and the British Council. Individual participants received support from their institutions or governments. In the course of our work on this book the several participants have accumulated obligations to many individuals too numerous to list here. Collectively, however, we wish to acknowledge the aid and assistance of three exceptional persons: Dr. Wesley A. Fisher, Secretary to the Commissions with the USSR of the American Council of Learned Societies; Ms. Susan E. Garfield, Coordinator of the Bellagio Study and Conference Center; and Ms. Arlene DeBevoise of Emory University, coordinator of the project, who also undertook the laborious task of processing and reprocessing the numerous drafts of the manuscript. Dr. Irina Diakanova, of the Institute of History of the USSR, served as coordinator of the project in Moscow. V. B. R. C.
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