Floating Exchange Rates at Fifty

This collection of essays came out of a conference that coincided with the 50th anniversary of the final collapse of the Bretton Woods system of pegged but adjustable exchange rates. This collapse, precipitated by a combination of U.S. balance of payments deficits and reluctance on the part of European governments to adjust their currencies, was perceived at the time as a sea change in international monetary relations. Contributors include policymakers based inside and outside the United States and academic experts from a wide array of countries. Together, their essays make the case that less changed after the collapse than was anticipated by contemporaries at the time. International trade has continued to expand, notwithstanding fears that exchange rate volatility would spark protectionism. The dollar endures as the dominant international currency, despite having severed its link to gold. The International Monetary Fund remains at the center of global monetary and financial governance. Efforts to reform the IMF are ongoing and several countries are trying to develop an alternative to the dollar-based international monetary system. But 50 years after the system’s collapse, not much has changed.