Bretton Woods Conference

Examples of Bretton Woods Conference in the following topics:

• The Importance of Trade

  • In particular, the Bretton Woods system of international monetary management has shaped the relationship between the world's major industrial states and has resulted in a much more integrated system of international exchange.
  • Established in 1946 to rebuild the international economic system after World War II, the Bretton Woods Conference set up regulations for production of their individual currencies to maintain fixed exchange rates between countries with the aim of more easily facilitating international trade.This was the foundation of the U.S. vision of postwar world free trade, which also involved lowering tariffs and, among other things, maintaining a balance of trade via fixed exchange rates that would be favorable to the capitalist system.

• Globalization and the U.S.

  • After the Second World War, work by politicians led to the Bretton Woods Conference from July 1-22, 1944.
  • Formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, the conference was a gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, to regulate the international monetary and financial order after the conclusion of World War II.
  • Out of the conference came an agreement by major governments to lay down the framework for international monetary policy, commerce, and finance, as well as the founding of several international institutions intended to facilitate economic growth by lowering trade barriers.

• Functions of Money

  • After World War II, at the Bretton Woods Conference, most countries adopted fiat currencies that were fixed to the U.S. dollar.

• The Global Economy

  • To help countries with unmanageable balance-of-payments problems, the Bretton Woods conference created the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

• Development Assistance

  • The Bretton Woods conference that created the IMF also led to establishment of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, better known as the World Bank, a multilateral institution designed to promote world trade and economic development by making loans to nations that otherwise might be unable to raise the funds necessary for participation in the world market.

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF)

  • The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that was created on July 22, 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference and came into existence on December 27, 1945 when 29 countries signed the IMF Articles of Agreement.
  • Since the demise of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates in the early 1970s, surveillance has evolved largely by way of changes in procedures rather than through the adoption of new obligations.The responsibilities of the fund changed from those of guardian to those of overseer of members' policies.

• The United Nations

  • The most important American contribution to the United Nations system is perhaps the Bretton Woods conference.
  • This conference took place in 1944, and its goal was "to create a new international monetary and trade regime that was stable and predictable."

• The International Monetary Structure

  • The most important American contribution to the global financial system is perhaps the introduction of the Bretton Woods system.
  • The Bretton Woods system of monetary management, created at a conference in 1944, established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the world's major industrial states in the mid-20th century.
  • The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations among independent nation-states.
  • Besides the influence of the U.S. on the Bretton Woods system, it is often claimed that the United States's transition to neoliberalism and global capitalism also led to a change in the identity and functions of international financial institutions like the IMF.
  • This is consistent with the IMF's function change during the 1970s after a change in President Nixon's policies (when the Nixon Shock ended the Bretton Woods gold standard).

• International Exchange of Money

  • This was called the Bretton Woods system and included the creation of the IMF (International Monetary Fund).
  • The modern foreign exchange market began forming during the 1970s after three decades of government restrictions on foreign exchange transactions (the Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the world's major industrial states after World War II), when countries gradually switched to floating exchange rates from the previous exchange rate regime, which remained fixed as per the Bretton Woods system.

• The Nixon Shock

  • On August 5, 1971, Congress released a report recommending devaluation of the dollar in an effort to protect the dollar against "foreign price-gougers. " Meanwhile, European countries began leaving the Bretton Woods international financial system, which had based the value of foreign currencies on the value of the gold-backed dollar.
  • In May 1971, inflation-wary West Germany was the first member country to unilaterally leave the Bretton Woods system — unwilling to devalue the Deutsche Mark in order to prop up the dollar.
  • On August 9, 1971, as the dollar dropped in value against European currencies, Switzerland unilaterally withdrew the Swiss franc from the Bretton Woods system.