ABSTRACT
During the coronavirus pandemic, the World Bank, an international financial institution, supported vaccine rollouts in more than 100 countries. Before World War I, the gold standard provided global financial stability. But instability in the interwar period with currency devaluations, protectionism, and unstable exchange rates led to calls for change. The Bretton Woods system, created after World War II, established an adjustable exchange rate framework with the US dollar as the world's main currency. While the Bretton Woods system combined the advantages of a gold standard with fixed exchange rates, its downfall reflected an overvaluation of the US dollar. Bretton Woods was replaced by the floating exchange rate system that exists today. A special topic in the chapter is the growth of digital currency, important in monetary economics.
