London and Paris as International Financial Centres in the Twentieth Century

A comparison between London and Paris as international financial centres since the late nineteenth century is particularly timely. Their recurrent competition has been reactivated in the last twenty years by deregulation, internationalization and the advent of the single currency, in ways reminiscent of their old rivalry before the First World War. The book provides a long term perspective on the development of each centre, with special attention devoted to pre-1914 years and to the last decades of the twentieth century, in order contrast these two eras of globalization. The chapters include both archive-based and synthetic surveys and are written by the leading specialists of the field. This comparison between Europe's two leading capital cities will also provide new insights into two important subjects: the political economy of Britain and France in the twentieth century, and the history of international financial centres.