A brief history of the international monetary system since Bretton Woods

Arbeitspapier

This paper provides a historical background to contemporary debates on the international monetary system: their genesis, similarities, and differences of problems it has faced at different times. It looks sequentially at the design of the Bretton Woods system; the tensions it faced since the 1960s and its collapse in the early 1970s; the management of the collapse, the failure to agree on a new system, and the resulting non-system that followed; the maturing of these ad hoc arrangements, and the reforms after the North Atlantic financial crisis and debates on how to build up a broader global 'financial safety net'.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-92-9256-141-3
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WIDER Working Paper ; No. 2016/97

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; International Economic Order and Integration ; Foreign Exchange ; International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions ; International Lending and Debt Problems ; International Policy Coordination and Transmission
• Subject: Bretton Woods agreement ; gold reserves ; foreign exchange reserves ; exchange rate system ; payments imbalances ; IMF credit lines

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Ocampo Gaviria, José Antonio
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
• (where): Helsinki
• (when): 2016

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2016/141-3
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/161481
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET