Doctoral Dissertation Research: Institutional Change Through the End of Bretton Woods

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Throughout the postwar period, the Bretton Woods system secured stable exchange rates between international currencies by way of the U.S. dollar convertibility to gold at a set price. In 1971, the United States ceased this policy of gold-dollar convertibility, leaving the international economy governed by flexible exchange rates shortly thereafter. This project examines the process of international negotiation over monetary reform that culminated in unilateral American action in 1971, an outcome that defies existing understandings of how institutions change from within. The project also evaluates whether the end of Bretton Woods was driven more by international political interests than the imperatives of the international monetary system itself. Findings will inform understanding of the relationship between economic crises and related political actions. The project will analyze extensive archival records that document the decision-making process leading to the end of Bretton Woods. Using declassified documents from the National Archives in College Park, as well as several Presidential Libraries, the project will produce an updated historical narrative of the end of Bretton Woods. There are three objectives: 1) to extend the most current theories of institutional change to address the dynamics of policymaking processes; 2) to articulate a mechanism by which economic policy decisions capitalize on public perceptions of crisis; and 3) to contribute an update social science history of the end of Bretton Woods. These objectives will be reached through process-tracing to make causal inferences based on complex sequences of events. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.