I shall be giving a talk at the Institute of Economic Affairs in Westminster this evening, 6.30pm, to the End of The World Club. The topic is The Death of French Savings, the Russian Bonds Story 1880-1996.
Among the issues covered are collusion between governments, favoured banks, and a compliant media to fleece savers by mis-selling investments. Nothing we should worry about in the present day?
One thing I learnt while researching this talk was the scale of capital flows: about 3.5% of France’s gross national product was exported to Russia for over 25 years (1887-1913) in the form of private purchases of bonds.
I aim to speak for about 15 minutes with a discussion afterwards. Formal proceedings end at 8pm.
This is a very interesting and timely topic. Have you published your talki in written form?
I also notice you date the French loans from before the Franco Russian Alliance-that is also interesting.