Bretton Woods

Bretton Woods

1. ally leaders met 1944 to get an idea to tie money together

   • tie currency to gold - gold standard - they then knew all the currencies "speak the same language"
     • create international establishments to stabilize currency and to help reconstruct after the war, to not fall into another Depression - IMF International Monetary Fund, part of the World Bank, lending organization that countries can use for reconstruction, also provides poorer countries
       • GATT - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade - try promote international negotiations and free trade

2. met in Bretton, the United States

3. Currency stability as precondition for establishment of international trade

   • Dollar as stable value

4. Multilateral aid was established since then - for post war reconstruction followed by loans to Latin America, Asia, Africa

   • Multilateral aid represents core contributions from official (government) sources to multilateral agencies where it is then used to fund the multilateral agencies’ own programmes.