The Bretton Woods Agreements: Together with Scholarly Commentaries and Essential Historical Documents

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Commentaries by top scholars alongside the most important documents and speeches concerning the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944 The two world wars brought an end to a long‑standing system of international commerce based on the gold standard. After the First World War, the weaknesses in the gold standard contributed to hyperinflation, the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, and ultimately World War II. The Bretton Woods Conference of 1944 arose out of the Allies’ desire to design a postwar international economic system that would provide a basis for prosperity, trade, and worldwide economic development.   Alongside important documents and speeches concerning the adoption and evolution of the Bretton Woods system, this volume includes lively, readable, original essays on such topics as why the gold standard was doomed, how Bretton Woods encouraged the adoption of Keynesian economics, how the agreements influenced late‑twentieth‑century ideas of international development, and why the agreements ultimately had to give way to other arrangements. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Introduction: Naomi Lamoreaux and Ian Shapiro Part I The Weight of the Past 1 The Political Economy of the Bretton Woods Agreements Jeffry Frieden 2 The Monetary Role of Gold as the Original Sin of Bretton Woods Barry Eichengreen 3 The Missing Bretton Woods Debate over Flexible Exchange Rates Douglas A. Irwin Part II The Disappearing Order 4 The Universally Keynesian Vision of Bretton Woods James M. Boughton 5 Bretton Woods: The Parliamentary Debates in the United Kingdom Andrew Bailey, Gordon Bannerman, and Cheryl Schonhardt- Bailey 6 A “Barbarous Relic”: The French, Gold, and the Demise of Bretton Woods Michael J. Graetz and Olivia Briffault Part III Paths Taken and Not Taken 7 Nutrition, Food, Agriculture, and the World Economy Martin Daunton 8 Australia’s Full- Employment Proposals at Bretton Woods: A Road Only Partly Taken Selwyn Cornish and Kurt Schuler 9 How the Bretton Woods Negotiations Helped to Pioneer International Development Eric Helleiner Part IV Denouement and Legacy 10 The Operation and Demise of the Bretton Woods System, 1958–1971 Michael D. Bordo 11 Japan and the Collapse of Bretton Woods Frances McCall Rosenbluth and James Sund quist 12 The Multiple Contexts of Bretton Woods Harold James Historical Documents Articles of Agreement Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund, July 22, 1944 Articles of Agreement of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, July 22, 1944 The White Plan Preliminary Draft Outline of a Proposal for an International Stabilization Fund of the United and Associated Nations (Revised July 10, 1943) The Keynes Plan Proposals for an International Clearing Union (April 1943) The French Plan Suggestions Regarding International Monetary Relations (May 1943) The Australian Employment Agreement The Employment Agreement The Joint Statement Joint Statement by Experts on the Establishment of an International Monetary Fund (April 1944) The Final Act Final Act (22 July 1944) Speeches and Debates Speech by Lord Keynes on the International Monetary Fund Debate. House of Lords, May 23, 1944 Bretton Woods and International Cooperation, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury Lord Keynes’s Speech at Inaugural Meeting of Governors of Fund and Bank, Savannah, 9 March 1946 Press Conference by Charles de Gaulle, Seeking the Abolition of the Gold Exchange Standard and a Return to the Gold Standard, February 4, 1965 Address to the Nation by Richard Nixon Outlining a New Economic Policy: “The Challenge of Peace.” August 15, 1971 Glossary List of Contributors Credits Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W