Tag Archives: Bretton Woods

As I Was Just Saying…

On the eve of the G20 global financial summit, Judy Shelton weighs in with yet another brilliant exposition on stable money:

At the bottom of the world financial crisis is international monetary disorder. Ever since the post-World War II Bretton Woods system — anchored by a gold-convertible dollar — ended in August 1971, the cause of free trade has been compromised by sovereign monetary-policy indulgence.

Today, a soupy mix of currencies sloshes investment capital around the world, channeling it into stagnant pools while productive endeavor is left high and dry. Entrepreneurs in countries with overvalued currencies are unable to attract the foreign investment that should logically flow in their direction, while scam artists in countries with undervalued currencies lure global financial resources into brackish puddles.

Whither Free Trade

John Tamny at Real Clear Markets on the roots and prospects for free trade:

In his Tract on Monetary Reform, John Maynard Keynes made the essential point that when money is debased, enterprise is discredited, and trade barriers soon reveal themselves. Having witnessed the worldwide monetary errors of the ‘20s that led to economic isolationism in the ‘30s, Keynes knew well the importance of the 1944 Bretton Woods monetary standard, of which he was a chief architect. . . .

Unfortunately, we’ve regressed. The chaotic monetary and currency policy of the present Administration has given rise to the trade skeptics of the next.

Tuesday’s “election could put trade-liberalization on ice for a while.”