1. Bretton Wood System
The Bretton Woods Agreement was negotiated in July 1944 by delegates from 44
countries at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held in Bretton
Woods, New Hampshire. Thus, the name “Bretton Woods Agreement.
Approximately 730 delegates representing 44 countries met in Bretton Woods.
These countries saw the opportunity for a new international system after World
War II that would draw on the lessons of the previous gold standards and the
experience of the Great Depression and provide for post-war reconstruction. It
was an unprecedented cooperative effort for nations that had been setting up
barriers between their economies for more than a decade.
They sought to create a system that would not only avoid the rigidity of previous
international monetary systems, but would also address the lack of cooperation
among the countries on those systems. The classic gold standard had been
abandoned after World War I. In the interwar period, governments not only
undertook competitive devaluations but also set up restrictive trade policies that
worsened the Great Depression.
2. Bretton Wood System
Though the Bretton Woods conference itself took place over just three weeks,
the preparations for it had been going on for several years. The primary
designers of the Bretton Woods System were the famous British
economist John Maynard Keynes and American Chief International Economist
of the U.S. Treasury Department Harry Dexter White.
The Bretton Woods Agreement and System created a collective international
currency exchange regime that lasted from the mid-1940s to the early 1970s.
The Bretton Woods System required a currency peg to the U.S. dollar which
was in turn pegged to the price of gold.
The Bretton Woods System collapsed in the 1970s but created a lasting
influence on international currency exchange and trade through its
development of the IMF and World Bank.
3. Bretton Wood System
Goals
To regulate and establish legal
obligations to States through World
Bank and IMF.
Establish institution for money pool
on time of need. So nations can
borrow funds.
Fixed exchange rate
Avoid senseless competitive
devaluation.
4. Bretton Wood System
The creation of Bretton Woods resulted in countries pegging their currencies to
the U.S. dollar.
In turn, the dollar was pegged to the price of gold, and the U.S. became dominant
in the world economy.
The U.S. was the only nation that could print the globally accepted currency, and
countries had more flexibility than they did with the old gold standard.
When the dollar ceased to be pegged to the price of gold, it became the monetary
standard with other currencies pegging their currencies to it
Why dollars? The United States held three-fourths of the world's supply of gold. No
other currency had enough gold to back it as a replacement. The dollar's value was
1/35 of an ounce of gold. Bretton Woods allowed the world to slowly transition
from a gold standard to a U.S. dollar standard.
Over time, the dollar became a substitute for gold. As a result, the value of the
dollar began to increase relative to other currencies
5. Reason of Collapse
In 1971, the United States suffered from massive stagflation—a combination
of inflation and recession, which causes unemployment and low economic
growth.
In response to a dangerous dip in value caused by too much currency in
circulation, President Nixon started to deflate the dollar's value in gold. Nixon
devalued the dollar to 1/38 of an ounce of gold, and then to 1/42 of an
ounce.
The devaluation plan backfired. It created a run on the U.S. gold reserves
at Fort Knox as people redeemed their quickly devaluing dollars for gold. In
1971, Nixon unhooked the value of the dollar from gold altogether. Without
price controls, gold quickly shot up to $120 per ounce in the free market,
ending the Bretton Woods system.
6. Bretton Wood System
This situation of excess dollar printing rise confidence problem and balance of
payment issue among countries. Countries stated to dumbed the currency in
market and back to gold standard. France collected more gold and tension in
international market came on surface.
The Bretton Woods Agreement remains a significant event in world financial
history. The two Bretton Woods Institutions it created in the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank played an important part in helping to
rebuild Europe in the aftermath of World War II. Subsequently, both
institutions have continued to maintain their founding goals while also
transitioning to serve global government interests in the modern-day.
7. Introduction
World Bank, in full World Bank Group, international organization affiliated with
the United Nations (UN) and designed to finance projects that enhance the
economic development of member states. Headquartered in Washington, D.C.
established in 1 944, the bank is the largest source of financial assistance to
developing countries.
It also provides technical assistance and policy advice and supervises—on behalf of
international creditors—the implementation of free-market reforms. Together with
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization, it plays a
central role in overseeing economic policy and reforming public institutions in
developing countries and defining the global macroeconomic agenda.
189 counties are members and once a year meeting is conducted. David Malpass is
the President.
Claim : we are not a bank in ordinary sense but a unique partnership to reduce
poverty and support development.
8. Objective
Immediate Goals:
40% growth of every country, increase in earning till 2030.
Major Investments:
World Bank will invest in the fields of education, health, public
administration, infrastructure, agriculture environment, natural resources.
Advices and training:
Loan seeking countries have proper advices and training. Mandatory for
borrowing.
Main area of focus:
some other focused areas are over come poverty via growth, climate change,
sharing expertise, publish reports, financial database.
9. Criticism
Tool of influence via big powers
Hierarchical institution because of unequal voting patterns which is debated
as the new colonial body
Promote liberalization in the developing counties
Counties has to neglect basic need of people while paying back the interest
The 5 sovereign states have more immunity and hold over programs and
initiatives.
President is always from USA. Other member states don’t have much
opportunities at higher level
10. Introduction
The IMF was originally laid out as a part of the Bretton Woods system exchange
agreement in 1944. 190 countries are the member of IMF. During the Great
Depression, countries sharply raised barriers to trade in an attempt to improve
their failing economies. This led to the devaluation of national currencies and a
decline in world trade.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 190 countries,
working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate
international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth,
and reduce poverty around the world.
The IMF should assume as a global economic institution. American delegate Harry
Dexter White foresaw an IMF that functioned more like a bank, making sure that
borrowing states could repay their debts on time. British economist John Maynard
Keynes, on the other hand, imagined that the IMF would be a cooperative fund
upon which member states could draw to maintain economic activity and
employment through periodic crises. This view suggested an IMF that helped
governments and to act as the United States government had during the New Deal
to the great recession of the 1930s
11. International Monetary Fund
objective
To maintain the financial economic
balance
Prevent economic crisis.
Internationally monetary
cooperation
International trade promotion
Currency exchange stability
Prevent Balance of payment crisis