A 21st-Century Bretton

Woods

Source from: Wall street

Journal
History
• Origins
– 1919/6/28, After world war 1, defeated Germany signed the Treaty
of Versailles. (German loss 13.5% territory and 12% population.
The army was control below 100000 people. Not allow to have air
force.
– 1930-The Great Depression
– (1939-1945)-World War 2
• 1944-Bretton Woods system
– Establish IMF
– US. Dollars exchanged gold with a fixed rate.(Gold standard)
• 1971-Nixon Shock
– In 1971 more and more dollars were being printed in Washington,
then being pumped overseas, to pay for government expenditure
on the military and social programs. In the first six months of
1971, assets for $22 billion fled the U.S. In response, on August 15,
1971, Nixon unilaterally imposed 90-day wage and price controls, a
10% import surcharge, and most importantly "closed the gold
window", making the dollar inconvertible to gold directly, except
on the open market. Unusually, this decision was made without
consulting members of the international monetary system or even
his own State Department, and was soon dubbed the "Nixon
 The Bretton Woods,
Today
• 2001-The Bretton Woods Project works as a
networker, information-provider, media informant and
watchdog to scrutinise and influence the World Bank
and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Through
briefings, reports and the bimonthly digest Bretton
Woods Update, it monitors projects, policy reforms and
the overall management of the Bretton Woods
institutions with special emphasis on environmental
and social concerns.
• Bretton Woods II?
– However, this informal meaning has been superseded in
the wake of the Global financial crisis of 2008.
– On September 26, 2008, French president, Nicolas
Sarkozy, said, "we must rethink the financial system
from scratch, as at Bretton Woods.”
– On October 8, 2008, Argentine President Cristina
Fernandez de Kirchner said "the financial world crisis will
 After World War 1
• 德國共需賠償 2260 億馬克（約合 113 億英 ）且以 金支付，後減
至 1320 億帝國馬克。 1921 年賠償金額確定為 49.9 億英 ，即
1320 億馬克。

Germa
n
UK

USA
French

Belgium
 Reflection
• Why we need Bretton Woods in 1944?
Why we need today?
• What is real money? Gold? US. Dollar?
• The process of Globalization will
decline?