Conceptions And Practices Of The Bretton Woods System

By the end of the 19th century,the United States had ranked first in the world economy,but it still maintained the gold standard international monetary system centered on the English pound in the international financial.The outbreak of World War I,while shaping a new international economic pattern,also strongly impacted the gold standard system.The Great Depression of 1929-1933 struck the capitalist world and once again shook the gold standard,which had been briefly re-established in the 1920s.In the 1930s,the hegemony of sterling in the international monetary system gradually shifted to the coexistence of dollar,sterling and franc.The change of international economic pattern between the two World Wars promoted the change of international monetary order during this period.World War Ⅱ continued the trend of changes in the world pattern since the very late 19th and early 20th century,and further adjusted the political and economic relations among the great powers.The United States finally established the capitalist world hegemony,and thus gave birth to the new international monetary system.The White Plan was put forward under this background.The centerpiece of White Plan was the creation of an International Stabilization Fund,led by the United States,which would issue an international currency——unita,at a fixed rate to gold,and member currencies at a fixed rate to unita for international clearing between member countries.At the same time,the International Stabilization Fund is tasked with stabilizing international exchange rates and providing short-term credit to member countries with balance of payments.While the United States intended to build the hegemony of the dollar with the White Plan,the United Kingdom also put forward the Keynes Plan to maintain the status of the pound as an international currency.The differences between the two were theoretical,objective and practical.The White Plan was devoted to establishing the leading position of the United States in the international monetary system,and the Keynes Plan tried to maintain the international status of the pound to the greatest extent.Both are interwoven with internationalism and realism.The Bretton Woods Conference finally established the international monetary system centered on the US dollar,which stabilized the international exchange rate,provided a relatively objective and stable standard for international clearing in trade,and promoted the recovery and development of the world economy after the war.However,the United States also established the hegemony of the US dollar,which provided the international monetary and financial foundation for the establishment of the American capitalist world economic hegemony.And the inherent defects of the Bretton Woods System lay a hidden danger for its eventual disintegration.