ABSTRACT
The underlying philosophy of central banking gradually emerged in response to the recurrent British financial crises of the nineteenth century and, in the latter part of the century, techniques were developed by the Bank of England in an effort to overcome the worst consequences of these crises. Over the years in Britain as elsewhere, patterns of behaviour came to be established, which enabled the institutions that became central banks to cope fairly successfully with situations and problems that whenever and wherever they occurred seemed to have much in common.
