The Effect of Public Policy on Financial Markets and Asset Prices: Three Historical Case Studies

This thesis looks at the effects of major historical changes in government policy on financial markets and asset prices. There is a substantial gap in the economic history literature in that very few studies have examined the economic effects of major changes in public policy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This will consist of historical case studies of three major changes in UK public policy, focusing primarily on how the introduction of legislation in relation to pensions and life assurance products affected financial markets.