The Debate About the Resilience of the Bretton Woods System

Kindleberger, Nurkse, and Friedman

Bibliographic Data

ID3203128
AuthorsGeorge S Tavlas (0000-0002-9046-1956, Bank of Greece, 21 E. Venizelos Ave., Athens, 102 50, Greece ([email protected]), corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume57
Issue5
Pages813-858
Publication date2025-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory of Political Economy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2702 • E-ISSN: 1527-1919
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/00182702-11948241
OpenAlexW4411026088
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited48

Charles Kindleberger has recently been singled out as having envisioned the present international monetary system in which the US dollar is the dominant global currency and the Federal Reserve plays the role of global lender of last resort, providing dollar liquidity to other central banks through swap transactions during crises. I show how Kindleberger's views on exchange rate systems were influenced by those put forward by Ragnar Nurkse in the 1940s. I then compare Kindleberger's views on exchange rate systems with those of Milton Friedman during the 1950s and 1960s. I show that what I call "the revisionist view" of Kindleberger's contributions to the international financial system is on the mark only up to a point. It overlooks Kindleberger's positions that were not borne out. Moreover, it should make some room for Friedman, who foresaw the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system and the move to flexible exchange rates by the industrial countries. Friedman also predicted that the dollar would remain the main global currency but, in contrast to Kindleberger, foresaw that it would do so under a regime of flexible exchange rates

Economic history · Economics · Keynesian economics · Physics · Resilience (materials science · Global Financial Crisis and Policies · International Development and Aid · State Capitalism and Financial Governance

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