The Bretton Woods Agreements: Together with Scholarly Commentaries and Essential Historical Documents (Basic Documents in World Politics)

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. Contents 5 Introduction 9 Part I. The Weight of the Past 29 Chapter 1. The Political Economy of the Bretton Woods Agreements 29 Chapter 2. The Monetary Role of Gold as the Original Sin of Bretton Woods 46 Chapter 3. The Missing Bretton Woods Debate over Flexible Exchange Rates 64 Part II. The Disappearing Order 85 Chapter 4. The Universally Keynesian Vision of Bretton Woods 85 Chapter 5. Bretton Woods: The Parliamentary Debates in the United Kingdom 103 Chapter 6. A “Barbarous Relic”: The French, Gold, and the Demise of Bretton Woods 129 Part III. Paths Taken and Not Taken 153 Chapter 7. Nutrition, Food, Agriculture, and the World Economy 153 Chapter 8 Australia’s Full-Employment Proposals at Bretton Woods: A Road Only Partly Taken 181 Chapter 9. How the Bretton Woods Negotiations Helped to Pioneer International Development 203 Part IV. Denouement and Legacy 225 Chapter 10. The Operation and Demise of the Bretton Woods System, 1958–1971 225 Chapter 11. Japan and the Collapse of Bretton Woods 244 Chapter 12. The Multiple Contexts of Bretton Woods 262 Historical Documents 281 Glossary 473 Contributors 481 Credits 483 Index 485 "The two world wars brought an end to a long-standing system of international commerce based on the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"--Publisher's description "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."-- Provided by publisher