People
Harry Dexter White
John Maynard Keynes
Map
Marshall Plan Aid
Recipients
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The Bretton Woods system
and the new international economy
History 300 / September 12, 2013
I. The political struggle
A. Keynes and the British agenda
1. Lend-Lease and the loans from America
2. Convertibility and the Dominions/Commonwealth
B. White and the U.S. agenda
1. Superseding London & the pound sterling
2. White's private spying
C. How to run a conference
II. Functional units of the Bretton Woods system
A. Monetary relations: the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
1. Fixed -- but adjustable -- exchange rates
2. The U. S. dollar convertible to gold (at $35/ounce)
3. Voting on policy (and loans) weighted by IMF quota
4. Operational challenges under Bretton Woods:
the "dollar gap", convertibility, speculative attacks
B. Investment: the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development = IBRD (World Bank)
1. Emphasis on large-scale infrastructural projects
2. Cheap lending as stimulus for private investment
C.
Trade: the missing piece of the triad
1. The International Trade Organization (ITO) fails
2. The General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT)
succeeds -- round by round
III. Regional rebuilding: the Marshall Plan (1947-52)
A. Britain's financial collapse
1. The 1946 U.S. loan
2. As predicted -- the 1947 convertibility disaster
3. Imperial consequences: India & Palestine
B. Continental Europe: economic misery -> communist triumphs?
C. Marshall's speech at Harvard, June 1947
D. Principles of participation
1. Enhanced productivity
2. Greater economic unity across Europe
3. Long-term American influence via "counterpart funds"
4. The Org. for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC),
later Org. for Econ. Cooperation & Devel. (OECD)
IV. The Soviet
bloc goes its own way
A. Membership in IMF rejected
1. Soviet resistance to economic oversight
2. The ruble as a "soft" currency
B. The CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, 1949-91)
1. Bilateral trade deals centered on Moscow
2. Direction of exploitation shifts over time
C. Cold War embargo: the Coordinating Committee (COCOM)
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Photos
Keynes and White
The Mount Washington Hotel
Assembled delegations
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Further reading
Harold James, International Monetary Cooperation Since Bretton Woods (New York: Oxford, 1996)
Benn Steil, The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013)
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