During the 20 years between the two world wars, the international monetary system was divided into several competing monetary groups, and the currencies of various countries were devalued and fluctuated violently.

In the late World War II, the British and American governments conceived and designed the postwar international monetary system for their own interests, and put forward the White Plan and the Keynesian Plan respectively. Both "White Plan" and "Keynesian Plan" aim at establishing international financial institutions, stabilizing exchange rates, expanding international trade and promoting world economic development, but their operating modes are different. Since the United States became the leader of the capitalist world after the world economic crisis and World War II, the international status of the US dollar has been stabilized by its strength in the international gold reserve. 1In April, 944, the two sides reached the Expert Statement on the Establishment of the International Monetary Fund, which reflected the White proposal.

The key figure in the establishment of the Bretton Woods system is Harry White, former assistant secretary of the US Treasury. With the post-war status of the United States, which has three-quarters of the world's gold reserves and strong military strength, his proposal to strengthen the status of the dollar defeated Keynes, the head of the British delegation and a great economist. The "White Plan" became the blueprint for the final resolution adopted at the Bretton Woods Conference.

Introduce the meaning

The Bretton Woods system refers to the international monetary system centered on the US dollar after World War II. 1944 In July, representatives of major western countries established the system at the United Nations International Monetary and Financial Conference. Because the meeting was held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA, it was called "Bretton Woods System". As a supplement to the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, the General Agreement on Tariffs, together with the agreements adopted by the Bretton Woods Conference, is called the "Bretton Woods System", that is, a multilateral economic system with foreign exchange liberalization, capital liberalization and trade liberalization as its main contents, which constitutes the core content of capitalist groups and is a system for realizing American economic hegemony according to the principles formulated by American interests. The establishment of the Bretton Woods system promoted the recovery and development of the post-war capitalist world economy. Due to the frequent outbreak of US dollar crisis and American economic crisis, and the inevitable contradiction of the system itself, the system came to an end at 1973.