ABSTRACT
It was in July, 1944 -- while war was still raging in Europe and the Pacific — that representatives from forty-four nations met at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The task of their meeting was enormous: to design the international system of exchange and finance that would structure capitalist accumulation on both global and national levels in the post-war period. After conflicts and compromises, it was agreed that a gold exchange standard with fixed exchange rates and the dollar as sole reserve currency -- would serve as the basis for the new system of international payments. Open and multilateral trade would be promoted by both this payments system and by the commitment to reduce tariffs (eventually worked out through the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs). Two major institutions were created to preside over the new world order: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
