How has British industry financed itself in the past? With the current debate on industry's financial strategy, this study of the past sixty years is a particularly timely contribution to the discussions on the future financing of industry.
This book gives, for the inter-war years, a detailed examination of the main sources of funds, covering long-term and short-term funding. It also traces the transition in the new issue market and explores the course of firms' own internal funds, and ends his coverage of the pre-war years with a chapter on the Macmillan Gap.
Dr Thomas puts particular emphasis on the influence of government policy on the financing of industry in post-war Britain. He also explains the effects the new sources of finance have had on industry and the major public corporations. His last chapter surveys the later developments in the main sources and uses of funds and the factors responsible for them, and includes an illuminating comparison of financial practices in some of the major overseas industrial countries.
Dr. Thomas has written a clear and objective account describing the trends in finance since the First World War. His notably well-documented book is an essential reference work.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

How has British industry financed itself in the past? With the current debate on industry's financial strategy, this study of the past sixty years is a particularly timely contribution to the discussions on the future financing of industry. This book gives, for the inter-war years, a detailed examination of the main sources of funds, covering long-term and short-term funding. It also traces the transition in the new issue market and explores the course of firms' own internal funds, and ends his coverage of the pre-war years with a chapter on the Macmillan Gap. Dr Thomas puts particular emphasis on the influence of government policy on the financing of industry in post-war Britain. He also explains the effects the new sources of finance have had on industry and the major public corporations. His last chapter surveys the later developments in the main sources and uses of funds and the factors responsible for them, and includes an illuminating comparison of financial practices in some of the major overseas industrial countries. Dr. Thomas has written a clear and objective account describing the trends in finance since the First World War. His notably well-documented book is an essential reference work.

The Stock Exchanges of Ireland traces the evolution of the markets which have operated in Ireland from their emergence (Dublin at the end of the eighteenth century, and later Belfast and Cork in the nineteenth) to the mid-1980s when this book was published. It starts with the historical circumstances - the beginnings of the Irish National Debt in the mid-eighteenth century and the problems of government borrowing in time of peace and war - which preceded the formation, in 1799, of the Dublin Stock Exchange. Later chapters examine many aspects of the market's development during the nineteenth century: changes in its practices and customs; the origins of some of the oldest surviving broking firms; the important trade in government securities between London and Dublin; the Irish railways; and the formation of joint stock companies in Ireland. Finally, the role of the Stock Exchange in the finance of government and industry since Irish independence is fully covered. Throughout, The Stock Exchanges of Ireland is soundly based on the surviving records (to which the author was granted full access) of the three Irish markets - Dublin, Cork and Belfast. Important new material was also obtained from the Irish Record Office, the National Library of Ireland, the archives of the Bank of Ireland and the Record Office of the Bank of England. The book makes a comprehensive and significant contribution to Irish and financial history, and will prove an essential work of reference. It is also a lively, readable account of growth, change and development in the Irish markets, which should interest all concerned with banking, finance, investment and stockbroking. Among W. A. Thomas's other publications on the history of financial institutions are The Stock Exchange: Its History and Functions (with E. Victor Morgan) (1962), The Provincial Stock Exchanges (1973) and The Finance of British Industry 1918-1966 (1980) .