Bretton Woods and the U.S. decision to intervene in the foreign-exchange market, 1957-1962

Michael Bordo, Owen Humpage and Anna Schwartz

No 609, Working Papers (Old Series) from Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Abstract: The deterioration in the U.S. balance of payments after 1957 and an accelerating loss of gold reserves prompted U.S. monetary authorities to undertake foreign-exchange-market interventions beginning in 1961. We discuss the events leading up to these interventions, the institutional arrangements developed for that purpose, and the controversies that ensued. Although these interventions forestalled a loss of U.S. gold reserves, in the end, they only delayed more fundamental adjustments and, in that respect, were a failure.

Keywords: Foreign exchange administration; Bretton Woods Agreements Act (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-fmk, nep-his, nep-ifn and nep-mon
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedcwp:0609

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DOI: 10.26509/frbc-wp-200609

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