Da Versailles a Bretton Woods e ai giorni nostri: errori storici e modelli ancora attuali per un sistema monetario internazionale sostenibile (From Bretton Woods to our days: Historic mistakes and models for a sustainable international monetary system)

Angelo Arcelli (), Reiner Stefano Masera () and Giovanni Tria ()
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Reiner Stefano Masera: Universita' G. Marconi, Roma
Giovanni Tria: Universita' di Tor Vergata, Roma, Center for International Governance Innovation, Waterloo (ON), Canada

Moneta e Credito, 2021, vol. 74, issue 296, 249-273

Abstract: Vi e' un parallelo tra i meccanismi monetari che erano stati definiti nella Conferenza di pace di Versailles (1919) e quanto concluso alla Conferenza di Bretton Woods (1944). A Versailles si decise per un graduale ritorno al gold standard, cosa che avvenne in quasi tutti i paesi entro la meta' degli anni '20. A Bretton Woods, la scelta fu quella di un sistema monetario internazionale asimmetrico e ancorato a un dollaro, convertibile in oro, che, in tal modo, si affermava come la moneta internazionale di riferimento. Con la fine del sistema di Bretton Woods, con lo sganciamento del dollaro dalla convertibilita' in oro decisa dal presidente Nixon il 4 agosto 1971, e piu' significativamente negli anni piu' recenti, si e' sviluppato, a livello internazionale, un vasto dibattito sulla possibilita' di uno strumento valutario da utilizzare per il regolamento di posizioni tra stati e banche centrali in caso di necessita'. There is a parallel amongst the stability mechanism defined in the Versailles conference of 1919 and the conclusions of the Bretton Woods conference in 1944. Whilst in Versailles the decision was for a smooth return to gold standard schemes, which indeed happened in most of the concerned countries by the mid- '20s, at Bretton Woods the preferred option was leaning towards an asymmetric international monetary system, centered on the US dollar, in turn pegged to gold. By this mechanism the US dollar became the global reference currency. The end of the Bretton Wood mechanism was triggered by US president Nixon to de-peg the dollar from gold on August 4th, 1971. By then, and until nowadays, a large international debate about the possibility to create a new tool for settling currency positions amongst central banks took more and more momentum.

Keywords: Bretton Woods; IMF; ECB; EU; financial crisis; financial markets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F6 G1 G21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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