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From the Exchange Stabilization Fund to the International Monetary Fund

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  • Michael Bordo
  • Anna J. Schwartz

Abstract

We highlight the elements of the operation of the U.S. Exchange Stabilization Fund that Harry Dexter White, who directed the Treasury's division of monetary research, transferred to his plan for the operation of the International Monetary Fund. The elements included the principle that all currencies were equivalent and the goal of the international fund, like that of the U.S. fund, was to stabilize exchange rates. The ESF also influenced White's vision for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The IBRD, however, represented a reaction by White against key elements of ESF stabilization loans, which were very short term, paid above market interest rates, and required collateral. Had White carried forward to the IMF the ESF elements pertaining to interest rates and collateral, its operations would have evolved in a markedly different direction from the one that it has taken.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Bordo & Anna J. Schwartz, 2001. "From the Exchange Stabilization Fund to the International Monetary Fund," NBER Working Papers 8100, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8100
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    8. Bordo, Michael D. & Schwartz, Anna J., 2000. "Measuring real economic effects of bailouts: historical perspectives on how countries in financial distress have fared with and without bailouts," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 81-167, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mr. James M. Boughton, 2006. "American in the Shadows: Harry Dexter White and the Design of the International Monetary Fund," IMF Working Papers 2006/006, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Sebastian Horn & Bradley C. Parks & Carmen M. Reinhart & Christoph Trebesch, 2023. "China as an International Lender of Last Resort," NBER Working Papers 31105, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Horn, Sebastian & Reinhart, Carmen M. & Trebesch, Christoph, 2020. "Coping with Disasters: Two Centuries of International Official Lending," Working Papers 18, German Research Foundation's Priority Programme 1859 "Experience and Expectation. Historical Foundations of Economic Behaviour", Humboldt University Berlin.
    4. Michael D. Bordo & Owen Humpage & Anna J. Schwartz, 2007. "The historical origins of US exchange market intervention policy," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(2), pages 109-132.
    5. Sergey Narkevich & Pavel Trunin, 2012. "Reserve Currencies: Factors of Evolution and their Role in the World Economy," Research Paper Series, Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, issue 162P.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics
    • F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions

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