2019 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
An Analysis of the 'flow-of-funds' within the Yokohama Specie Bank, 1910-1940
| Project/Area Number |
19K01773
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| Research Institution | Hokkaido University |
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Principal Investigator |
Schiltz Michael 北海道大学, メディア・コミュニケーション研究院, 准教授 (50624582)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | hedging / banking history / foreign exchange / Yokohama Specie Bank / gold standard / bimetallism |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The project under discussion consists of both a quantitative and qualitative component. The quantitative pillar is social network analysis. Flow-of-fund data were entered into so-called adjacency matrices, which are used for mapping the centrality of branches within the Yokohama Specie Bank, for the period between 1893 and 1913. Schiltz therefore developed the notion of a ‘Flow-of-Fund index’.
The crux of the argument is quite revisionist. Contrary to the commonly accepted wisdom that nineteenth-century bankers did not have a sophisticated understanding of hedging strategies, the project demonstrates that hedging strategies existed, and that they impacted banks’ operations in profound ways.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The reception of the project's results has been more forthcoming than expected. Oxford University press decided to publish my book in its economic history series (forthcoming 2020).
Within Japan, I have profited from extensive contacts with several researchers. Kobayashi Atsushi, in particular, plans to build on my research findings to develop a larger research project studying all 'exchange banks' in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Internationally, the Financial History Review agreed to the publication of a special issue on Asian banking history, edited by prof. Okazaki Tetsuji (University of Tokyo), Ghassan Moazzin (Hong Kong University), and myself.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
-a thorough review of *narrative* evidence within Yokohama Specie Bank primary materials for the period 1913-1931.
-a thorough review of *quantitative* evidence within Yokohama Specie Bank primary materials for the period 1913-1931.
-further construction of a sustainable online library of non-disclosed archival sources through FigShare (https://figshare.com/authors/Michael_Schiltz/409900)
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| Remarks |
This page comprises the research logbooks for the project
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