Interdisciplinary Seminar in Economic History: Central Bank Cooperation, 1930-1932: A reappraisal
19/03/2024 (Seminars)
Bank of Greece, DIESOI
The Historical Archives of the Bank of Greece, in the context of the Interdisciplinary Seminar in Economic History, jointly organised with the Athens University of Economics and Business and Panteion University, invite you to the lecture entitled:
“Central Bank Cooperation, 1930-1932: A reappraisal”
Speaker: Juan Flores Zendejas (University of Geneva)
A few words on the topic:
The aim of the presentation is to revisit the attitude of individual central banks to the attempts led by the Bank for International Settlements to institutionalise central bank cooperation during the interwar period. This study demonstrates that the 1931 crisis in central Europe emerged as an exogenous shock, prompting the BIS to become an international lender of last resort and to increase the resources at its disposal. However, the BIS relied on member central banks' discretionary behaviour. While the literature has mainly focused on the core central banks' negative attitude towards BIS lending of last resort operations, the research observes a general reticence to foster the BIS' structural and autonomous capacity to provide stabilisation loans. As politics also played a role in periphery countries, a major claim of Flores Zendejas is that central banks shared a significant concern about profit-making reserve management, thereby limiting the BIS’ available resources and capacity to lend.
The sessions are held between 17:00-19:00 at the Museum of the Bank of Greece, 3, Amerikis Street, Athens, and are open to the public, without requiring prior registration. The lecture will be delivered in English.
The complete programme of upcoming lectures is available on the website of the Interdisciplinary Seminar in Economic History.
Relevant links:
Poster of the event