The Bretton Woods system is mainly embodied in two aspects: first, the dollar is directly linked to gold. Second, the currencies of other member countries are pegged to the US dollar, that is, they maintain a fixed exchange rate relationship with the US dollar. The Bretton Woods system is actually an international gold exchange standard, also known as the dollar-gold standard. It made the US dollar in the center of the post-war international monetary system, and the US dollar became the "equivalent" of gold. Only through the US dollar can the currencies of various countries have a relationship with gold. Since then, the dollar has become the means of payment for international settlement and the main reserve currency of various countries.
The establishment of the Bretton Woods system centered on the dollar provided a unified standard and foundation for international monetary and financial relations, ended the chaotic situation in the monetary and financial fields before the war, and expanded world trade under relatively stable conditions. The United States has distributed a large amount of dollars to the world through gifts, credit and the purchase of foreign goods and services, which has objectively played a role in expanding the purchasing power of the world. At the same time, the fixed exchange rate system largely eliminates the turmoil caused by exchange rate fluctuations, stabilizes the currency exchange rates of major countries to a certain extent, and is conducive to the development of international trade. According to statistics, the average annual growth rate of world export trade is 6.8% in 1948- 1960, and 7.9% in 1960- 1965 and 1970. The average annual growth rate of world export trade was 7.7% from 1948- 1976, while it was only 0.7% from 19 13- 1938 before the war. IMF's request for member countries to cancel foreign exchange control is also beneficial to the development of international trade and finance, because it can reduce many interferences or obstacles in practice.
The Bretton Woods system is a gold exchange standard based on dollar and gold. It must have two basic premises: first, the balance of payments of the United States can be maintained; Second, the United States has an absolute advantage in gold reserves. However, after the 1960s, with the deepening of the crisis of the capitalist system and the aggravation of the imbalance of political and economic development, the economic strength of various countries has changed, and the economic strength of the United States has weakened relatively. After 1950, except for a few years of slight surplus, all other years are deficits, and there is a trend of increasing year by year. By 197 1, the deficit was as high as $8.3 billion in the first half of this year alone. With the gradual increase of the balance of payments deficit, America's gold reserves are also decreasing. During the period of 1949, the gold reserve of the United States was $24.6 billion, accounting for 73.4% of the total gold reserve of the whole capitalist world at that time, which was the highest figure after the war. Since then, it has decreased year by year. By August of 197 1 year when Nixon announced the "new economy (market forum) policy", the gold reserves of the United States were only/kloc-0.02 billion dollars, while the short-term foreign debt was 52 billion dollars, and the gold reserves were only equivalent to15 of the accumulated foreign debt. A large number of dollars flowed out of the United States, resulting in a "dollar surplus." At the end of 1973, the "euro" wandering in the financial markets of various countries reached 1000 billion. The disappearance of the premise of the Bretton Woods system exposed its fatal weakness, namely "Triffin dilemma". The system itself has been shaken, the international credit of the US dollar has been seriously reduced, and countries are scrambling to run gold on the United States, but the US gold reserves are difficult to cope with, resulting in the successive US dollar crises since 1960, and the monetary and financial fields have fallen into an increasingly chaotic situation. Therefore, in 197 1, the United States announced the implementation of the "new economic policy" and stopped governments from exchanging dollars for gold in the United States, which made the western money market more chaotic. 1973 During the crisis, the United States once again announced the depreciation of the dollar, which led to floating exchange rate system instead of fixed exchange rate system. The dollar stopped being exchanged for gold, and the collapse of the fixed exchange rate system marked the disintegration of the dollar-centered monetary system after the war.
The Historical Role of Bretton Woods System and the Start of Euro
1 99965438+1October1,and on June 65438+1October 4, the euro was officially launched and entered the market. As the only currency in the European single currency and the international monetary system that can compete with the US dollar, it is an important step for the European Union to implement its Maastricht Treaty of 199 1, which embodies the determination of 15 countries in the European single currency system and marks the beginning of the international monetary system from one pole to multiple poles. Although the dollar-Bretton Woods system before the euro has become history, it has promoted the development of international finance and played a decisive role in the development of the world economy.
I. Formation of the Bretton Woods system
As early as World War II, the United States attempted to replace Britain and establish an international monetary system centered on the US dollar. After World War II, great changes have taken place in the strength comparison among countries. The British economy was hit hard in the war and its strength was greatly weakened. On the contrary, the economic strength of the United States has grown rapidly and become the largest creditor country in the world. From 1 941March 1 1 to19451February1,the United States provided its allies with goods and services worth more than $50 billion under the Lease Law. Gold keeps flowing into the United States. The gold reserves of the United States increased from 145 1 billion dollars in 1938 to 20.08 billion dollars in 1945, accounting for about 59% of the world's gold reserves. This has created favorable conditions for the formation of the hegemonic position of the US dollar.
The American ruling group believes that Britain's preferential system and the pound zone are one of the main obstacles to American foreign economic expansion after the war, so the United States advocates that "after a short transition period, it is not allowed to protect tariffs, trade quotas, competitive currency depreciation, multiple exchange rates, bilateral settlement agreements, measures to restrict the free circulation of money and other forms of financial barriers" (3). However, at that time, Britain still had some strength in the field of money and finance. Sterling is still one of the major reserve currencies in the world, and about 40% of international trade is settled in sterling. The preferential system and the pound area still exist, and Britain still maintains a very important position in the world. Therefore, in 1943, White, an official of the US Treasury Department, and Keynes, an adviser to the British Treasury Department, designed the postwar international monetary and financial system from their own interests and put forward two different schemes. Based on the fact that the United States had a large amount of gold reserves at that time, the "White Plan" emphasized the role of gold and urged countries to cancel foreign exchange controls and restrictions on international capital transfer, so as to help the United States expand its foreign trade and capital output. It advocates the establishment of an international stability fund after the war, the IMF issues international currency, and the currencies of various countries maintain a fixed price. The main task of the International Monetary Fund is to stabilize the exchange rate. In fact, it is for the United States to export excess capital and control the plunder of other countries. "Keynesian Plan" set out from the predicament of the shortage of gold reserves in Britain at that time, tried to belittle the role of gold, and advocated the establishment of a world-wide central bank, called "International Settlement Union", in which the creditor's rights and debts of various countries were settled by transfer from their deposit accounts.
The two plans reflect the changes in the economic status of the United States and Britain and the purpose of competing for world financial hegemony. 1September 1943 to1April 1944, American and British government delegations had a heated debate on the international monetary plan. 1In July 1944, the international monetary and financial conference between the United Nations and its allies was held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA, and the final resolution of the joint national monetary and financial conference based on the White Plan and its two annexes, the International Monetary Fund Agreement and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Agreement, was adopted, which was collectively called the Bretton Woods Agreement. A world monetary system (Bretton Woods system) centered on the US dollar was established, thus establishing the hegemonic position of the US dollar.
The Bretton Woods system is mainly embodied in two aspects: first, the dollar is directly linked to gold. Second, the currencies of other member countries are pegged to the US dollar, that is, they maintain a fixed exchange rate relationship with the US dollar. The Bretton Woods system is actually an international gold exchange standard, also known as the dollar-gold standard. It made the US dollar in the center of the post-war international monetary system, and the US dollar became the "equivalent" of gold. Only through the US dollar can the currencies of various countries have a relationship with gold. Since then, the dollar has become the means of payment for international settlement and the main reserve currency of various countries.
Second, the historical role of the Bretton Woods system
The formation of Bretton Woods system has its historical function, which temporarily ended the chaotic situation in the field of monetary finance before the war and maintained the normal operation of the world monetary system after the war. The fixed exchange rate system is one of the pillars of the Bretton Woods system, but it is different from the relative stability of the exchange rate under the gold standard. Under the typical gold standard system, gold coins not only contain a certain amount of gold, but also can be freely cast, so the fluctuation of exchange rate is restricted by the gold point and the fluctuation boundary is narrow. After the First World War, inflation in various countries was serious, the free exchange of gold market and the free flow of gold were blocked, and the gold standard system fell into a serious crisis. 1929- 1933 the capitalist world economic crisis caused the crisis of the monetary system, which led to the collapse of the gold standard system and made the world monetary and financial relations lose the unified standard and foundation. This is the first crisis of the world monetary system. Countries have successively formed opposing currency groups, strengthened foreign exchange control, implemented foreign exchange dumping and launched fierce currency wars. International monetary and financial relations are in a chaotic situation. The establishment of the Bretton Woods system centered on the US dollar has made the international monetary and financial relations have a unified standard and foundation, and the chaotic situation has been temporarily stabilized.
The formation of the Bretton Woods system has expanded world trade under relatively stable conditions. Against the background of its rich gold reserves, the United States distributed a large amount of dollars to the world through gifts, credit, purchase of foreign goods and services, which objectively played a role in expanding the purchasing power of the world. At the same time, the fixed exchange rate system largely eliminates the turmoil caused by exchange rate fluctuations, stabilizes the currency exchange rates of major countries to a certain extent, and is conducive to the development of international trade. According to statistics, the average annual growth rate of world export trade is 6.8% in 1948- 1960, and 7.9% in 1960- 1965 and 1970. The average annual growth rate of world export trade is 7.7% from 1948- 1976, while 19 13- 1938 before the war was only 0.7%. IMF's request for member countries to cancel foreign exchange control is also beneficial to the development of international trade and finance, because it can reduce many interferences or obstacles in practice.
After the formation of the Bretton Woods system, the activities of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have played a positive role in the recovery and development of the world economy. On the one hand, the short-term loans provided by the IMF temporarily eased the balance of payments crisis. In the early post-war period, many countries devalued their currencies because of the depletion of gold foreign exchange reserves, which caused difficulties in international payment. The International Monetary Fund loan solved this problem to varying degrees. 1947- 1969, the total amount of IMF loans was 20.2 billion SDR [6]. However, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the lending activities of the International Monetary Fund were limited, mainly in the region (such as the European Payment Union). From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, due to the rapid development in reducing restrictions, the strengthening of international payment status in many countries also promoted the steady liberalization of payment methods, and the loan business of the International Monetary Fund increased rapidly, with its focus shifting from Europe to the third world in Asia, Africa and Latin America. On the other hand, the long-term loans and investments provided and organized by the World Bank have met the financial needs of post-war economic recovery and development of member countries to varying degrees. In the early days of the establishment of the World Bank, loans were mainly concentrated in European countries, with a total amount of about 500 million US dollars. Later, the loan direction of the World Bank mainly turned to developing countries to meet the demand for development funds. In addition, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have also played a certain role in the recovery and development of the world economy by providing technical assistance, establishing international economic and monetary research materials and exchanging information.
Third, the Bretton Woods system and the disintegration of the euro.
The post-war international monetary system is a gold exchange standard based on US dollar and gold. It must have two basic premises: first, the balance of payments of the United States can be maintained; Second, the United States has an absolute advantage in gold reserves. However, after the 1960s, with the deepening of the crisis of the capitalist system and the aggravation of the imbalance of political and economic development, the economic strength of various countries has changed, and the economic strength of the United States has weakened relatively. After 1950, except for a few years of slight surplus, all other years are deficits, and there is a trend of increasing year by year. By 197 1 year, the deficit was as high as $8.3 billion in the first half of this year alone. With the gradual increase of the balance of payments deficit, America's gold reserves are also decreasing. 1949, the gold reserve of the United States was $24.6 billion, accounting for 73.4% of the total gold reserve of the whole capitalist world at that time, which was the highest figure after the war.
Since then, it has decreased year by year. By August of 197 1 year when Nixon announced the "new economic policy", the gold reserves of the United States were only 102 billion dollars, while the short-term foreign debt was 52 billion dollars, and the gold reserves were only equivalent to 1/5 ⑾ of the foreign debt owed. A large number of dollars flowed out of the United States, resulting in a "dollar surplus." At the end of 1973, the "euro" wandering in the financial markets of various countries reached 1000 billion. Due to the disappearance of the premise of the Bretton Woods system, its fatal weakness was exposed, that is, Triffin's dilemma [13], the system itself was shaken, the international credit of the US dollar declined seriously, countries rushed to run gold on the United States, and the US gold reserve was difficult to deal with, which led to repeated US dollar crises from 65438 to 0960, and the monetary and financial fields fell into an increasingly chaotic situation. Therefore, in 197 1, the United States announced the implementation of the "new economic policy" and stopped governments from exchanging dollars for gold in the United States, which made the western money market more chaotic. 1973 During the crisis, the United States once again announced the depreciation of the dollar, which led to floating exchange rate system instead of fixed exchange rate system. The dollar stopped being exchanged for gold, and the collapse of the fixed exchange rate system marked the disintegration of the dollar-centered monetary system after the war.
After the disintegration of the Bretton Woods system, the dollar still occupies an absolute dominant position in the international monetary system, but it has gradually declined in recent years. In this situation, the emergence of a new dominant currency has become inevitable.
A few years ago, many people thought that with the sharp appreciation of the yen, the German mark strengthened and the dollar depreciated sharply, and the dollar, the yen and the German mark would go hand in hand to replace the dollar. But this is not the case. It is difficult for Germany and Japan to compete with the United States in a short time. In recent years, the sharp oscillation of the yen has proved this point. The euro supported by the European Union will become the only currency that can compete with the dollar in the future international monetary system, which is closely related to its economic strength behind it. Because the EU is different from Germany and Japan, its overall economic scale and its share in world trade are the first in the world, and it is fully capable of competing with the US dollar in the new international reserve currency pattern. In addition, Japanese yen, mark, pound, Swiss franc, etc. Also occupy a certain position and share a spoonful of dollars. In this situation, the euro will have a more and more far-reaching impact on the future international financial system.
First of all, within the EU, on the one hand, in order to make the euro start as scheduled and run stably after the start, EU member States must reasonably reduce the fiscal deficit and inflation rate. This can provide a good environment for economic development. On the other hand, the launch of the euro is not only an economic issue, but also an important symbol and the only way to end the division of Europe since the Millennium and realize "unified Europe", which has become a necessary condition to ensure the healthy operation of the EU single market.
Secondly, on an international scale, the euro will prompt the international financial market to make substantial adjustments, intensify the competition in the international financial system, and enable international capital to be allocated more effectively on a global scale. Some countries, such as Asia and Africa, can also use the euro to reduce their dependence on the dollar, and in some cases, weaken the pressure exerted by the dollar on their economic policies.
Judging from the operation of the euro for more than a year, although its performance in the euro zone is still good, the payment system is operating normally and the price is stable, which brings people new opportunities and a broader world, but the euro itself also has some problems. Only by solving these problems step by step can the economies of member countries grow rapidly, create new employment opportunities and develop the world economy and trade in a healthy direction. (This article Source: China Economic Net)