ABSTRACT
John Maynard Keynes of the Clearing Union and Bretton Woods era became more conscious of the need for international monetary cooperation. Keynes' thinking of this period was largely based on the theoretical foundations established by him in the years from 1923 to 1933. The International Monetary Fund also upholds this principle of national autonomy. The importance of a flexible exchange rate to national autonomy was fully recognized by both the Clearing Union proposals and the International Monetary Fund. A principle long sought by Keynes during the inter-war period for insuring a nation's right to determine its own economic destiny was the retention of control by it over the domestic rate of interest. Keynes attributed the highest importance to this "scarce currency clause", for it sustained his principle that responsibility for achieving external equilibrium rests with both creditor and debtor nations.
