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Three Perspectives on the Bretton Woods System

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  • Barry Eichengreen

Abstract

The twenty years that have passed since the collapse of the Bretton Woods System provide sufficient distance to safely assess the operation of the post-World War II international monetary system. This paper considers the history and historiography of Bretton Woods from three perspectives. First, I ask how the questions posed today about the operation of Bretton Woods differ from those asked twenty years ago. Second, I explore how today's answers to familiar questions differ from the answers offered in the past. Third, I examine the implications of Bretton Woods experience for international monetary reform.

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  • Barry Eichengreen, 1992. "Three Perspectives on the Bretton Woods System," NBER Working Papers 4141, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:4141
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    1. Bayoumi, Tamim & Eichengreen, Barry, 1994. "Macroeconomic Adjustment under Bretton Woods and the Post-Bretton-Woods Float: An Impulse-Response Analysis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(425), pages 813-827, July.
    2. Eichengreen, Barry, 1993. "A Marshall Plan for the East: Options for 1993," Center for International and Development Economics Research (CIDER) Working Papers 233185, University of California-Berkeley, Department of Economics.
    3. Jeff Frankel, Steve Phillips, and Menzie Chinn., 1992. "Financial and Currency Integration in the European Monetary System: The Statistical Record," Center for International and Development Economics Research (CIDER) Working Papers C92-005, University of California at Berkeley.
    4. Bordo, Michael D. & Jonung, Lars, 2000. "A Return to the Convertibility Principle? Monetary And Fiscal Regimes in Historical Perspective," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 415, Stockholm School of Economics.
    5. Eichengreen, Barry, 1993. "The Endogeneity of Exchange Rate Regimes," CEPR Discussion Papers 812, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Bordo, Michael D. & Jonung, Lars, 1994. "Monetary Regimes, Inflation and Monetary Reform: An Essay in Honor of Axel Leijonhufvud," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 16, Stockholm School of Economics.
    7. Lin, Justin Yifu & Fardoust, Shahrokh & Rosenblatt, David, 2012. "Reform of the international monetary system : a jagged history and uncertain prospects," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6070, The World Bank.
    8. F.C. Neil Myer & Mukesh K. Chaudhry & James R. Webb, 1997. "Stationarity and Co-Integration in Systems with Three National Real Estate Indices," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 13(3), pages 369-381.

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