Bretton Woods System

Bretton Woods System and the GATT Policy Negotiations

In relation to the GATT Policy Negotiations, Christopher Mark (1993) provided the following explanation and/or definition of Bretton Woods System: The general term for the international monetary and financial system established after World War II to foster full employment and price stability, while allowing individual countries to attain external balance without having to resort to trade restrictions. Takes its name from the July 1944 conference of 44 countries meeting in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to plan for postwar reconstruction and economic stability. The Conference laid the foundation for theInternational Monetary Fund and World Bank (Sec. 111). A third specialized agency envisaged at Bretton Woods –the International Trade Organization (Sec. III) –did not materialize, and the less powerful GATT took its place. See also World Economic Conferences of 1927 and 1933.