Features: The advantage of the Bretton Woods system, the international monetary system of the capitalist world manipulated by a big country (the United States), is 1. The system of linking the US dollar to gold and fixing the exchange rate was established, which ended the chaotic international financial order and created favorable external conditions for the expansion of international trade and the growth of the world economy. 2. As a reserve currency and a means of international settlement, the US dollar makes up for the shortage of gold, improves the global purchasing power and promotes international trade and transnational investment. Defects of the Bretton Woods system The Bretton Woods system also has various defects: (1) The United States uses the special position of the US dollar to manipulate international financial activities. (2) As an international reserve asset, the US dollar has insurmountable contradictions. If the balance of payments of the United States continues to show a deficit, it will inevitably affect the dollar credit and trigger a dollar crisis. If the United States wants to maintain the balance of payments and stabilize the dollar, it will cut off the source of international reserves and cause insufficient international liquidity. (3) A fixed exchange rate is beneficial for the United States to export inflation and aggravate global inflation, but it is not conducive for countries to use exchange rate changes to adjust the balance of payments. The international agreement of 1 April 19741formally ruled out the fixed relationship between money and gold, and the Bretton Woods system centered on the dollar completely collapsed.