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Britain's Return to the Gold Standard in 1925 Revisited

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24 June 2025, Bank of England, London

On 28 April 1925, Winston Churchill announced the United Kingdom’s return to the gold standard. The restoration of the Pound Sterling’s gold convertibility at its pre-war parity followed a period of profound economic change in the UK: four years of war, the imposition of capital controls, a surge in the national debt, and a sustained period of exchange rate volatility. Few policy decisions in history have provoked as much commentary and controversy.  To mark the centenary of this momentous event, we invite scholars from a wide range of disciplines to submit papers reflecting on the 1925 return to gold, its historical context, and its implications for current debates in monetary and financial policy.

This conference seeks to revisit the UK’s return to the gold standard, examining its causes, consequences, and the broader lessons it offers for understanding monetary and exchange rate policies. The conference will take place in person at the Bank of England on 24 June 2025 and is sponsored by the Bank of England, the Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge Judge Business School, the Financial History Group at the LSE and the Centre for Economic Policy Research.  

Organising committee: Olivier Accominotti (LSE and CEPR), Pamfili Antipa (LSE), Oliver Bush (Bank of England), David Chambers (Cambridge Judge Business School, LSE and CEPR), Ryland Thomas (Bank of England). 

 

There are likely to be limited spaces that we can offer to non-presenters.  If you would like to be considered, please complete this form.

Call for Papers

We welcome paper proposals that analyse themes relating to the UK’s return to gold from the perspective of different disciplines including economics, finance, economic history, and political science. We are especially interested in papers comparing the 1925 return to the gold standard with other similar historical episodes and linking it to contemporary debates in the international monetary system and financial markets. Themes of the conference include, but are not limited to, the following: 

  • the interplay between economic theory, ideology, and political forces in historical monetary and exchange rate policy decisions;
  • the macroeconomic consequences of fixed exchange rate regimes;
  • the lessons from the interwar period for the operation and communication of domestic monetary policy and the management of the global monetary and financial system; 
  • the significance of the 1925 return to gold for the subsequent evolution of the foreign exchange market;
  • the geopolitical context and consequences of major exchange rate policy decisions from the 1920s to the present

Proposals of no more than 500 words should be submitted by 1 March 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 15 March 2025.  We have a limited budget to cover accommodation and economy-class travel for speakers from academia.  Please indicate in your reply whether you will be able to cover your own costs, or whether you will require funding to attend.

How to apply

Authors who already have a CEPR HUB profile can upload their submission by:

  1. Going to https://hub.cepr.org/  and logging in
  2. After you have logged in, go to https://hub.cepr.org/event/4593
  3. Click on "Step 1: Apply"
  4. Under "Apply to Attend" click "Yes"
  5. Tick the boxes that apply to you
  6. Tick "Would you like to submit a paper?", upload your paper and supply the requested information.
  7. Click "Submit form" to make the submission.

 
Authors who do not have a CEPR HUB profile can upload their submission by:

  1. Creating a new profile here https://hub.cepr.org/user/register
  2. After you have logged in, go to https://hub.cepr.org/event/4593
  3. Click on "Step 1: Apply"
  4. Under "Apply to Attend" click "Yes"
  5. Tick the boxes that apply to you
  6. Tick "Would you like to submit a paper?", upload your paper and supply the requested information.
  7. Click "Submit form" to make the submission.


If you have any difficulties registering for this meeting, please contact Jemila Benchikh, Events Officer at jbenchikh@cepr.org.

Workshop Programme

8.30-9.00am: Welcome, registration

9.00-9.15am: Opening Remarks Andrew Bailey, Governor, Bank of England

9.15-9.30am: Introduction Olivier Accominotti, Director, LSE Financial History Group and David Chambers, Director, Cambridge Centre for Endowment Asset Management

9.30-10.30am: Session 1 - The Return to Gold in 1925: Comparing with Earlier and Later Exchange Rate Decisions
Pamfili Antipa (LSE) and Kirsten Wandschneider (University of Vienna) The Political Economy of Britain's Return to Gold in 1925 - a comparison with the resumption of 1821.
Michael Oliver (Open University) The 'Lawson Conquest' and British Exchange Rate Management, 1980-1992.

10.30-11.00am: Coffee break

11.00am-12noon: Session 2 - Political Aspects of the Return to Gold
James Morrison (LSE) Lessons from the Return to Gold: Democratic Decline, International Violence and Bitcoin Madness.
Robert Yee (University of Oxford) Churchill and the Politics of the Gold Standard in 1925.

12noon-1.00pm: Lunch

1.00-1.45pm: Keynote Address
Harold James (Princeton University) The Return to Gold and EMS Entry Compared

1.45-2.00pm: Coffee Break

2.00-3.00pm: Session 3 - The Return to Gold: International Dimensions and Long-run Perspectives
Guillaume Bazot (Aix-Marseilles University), Eric Monnet (Paris School of Economics), and Matthias Morys (University of York) How Different were the Classical Gold Standard and the Interwar Gold Standard Really? Evidence from Central Bank Balance Sheets.
Roger Vicqery (Bank of England) Sterling and the Rise and Fall of Global Currencies over Two Centuries.

3.00-3.15pm: Coffee Break

3.15-4.15pm: Session 4 - Macroeconomic and Fiscal Consequences of the Return to Gold
Jason Lennard (LSE) and Meredith Paker (Grinnell College) The Economic Consequences of Mr Churchill: Evidence from the Phillips Curve.
Stefano ugolini (University of Toulouse) Public Debt and Yield Curve Management in the UK During and After the First World War

5.15-4.30pm: Coffee Break

4.30-6pm: Policy Panel - Lessons from the Return to Gold
Panellists:
Susan Howson (University of Toronto)
Catherine Schenk (University of Oxford)
Jagjit Chadha (University of Cambridge)
Huw Pill (Bank of England)

Moderator: Olivier Accominotti, Director, LSE Financial History Group


 

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