Bretton Woods in Action, 1959–1973

Abstract

A history of the Fund in the sixties is inevitably a history of the international monetary system. The Fund has stood so central to events, its policies have been so intertwined with those of its members, while in turn its members have formed their policies to conform with Fund arrangements, that no account of the Fund can be given save in this wider setting. To attempt a chronicle of monetary events for this crucial and crowded period would be rash indeed and any summary version risks the charge of distortion not to say omission. But with this risk in mind we nevertheless take our courage in our hands and begin this chapter with some general account of the evolving problems which the Fund faced. To this account of what we may call the ‘externalities’ must be added the domestic condition of the Fund itself as we summarised it at the end of Chapter 6. The two accounts, hopefully, provide a picture of Bretton Woods in the sixties.