《management企业管理类英文版PPT课件56.pptVIP

Gold Standard The Gold Standard (1876 – 1913) “Rules of the game” - each country set the rate at which its currency unit could be converted to gold Currency exchange rates were in effect “fixed” Expansionary monetary policy was limited to a government’s supply of gold Policy was in effect until the outbreak of WWI as the free movement of gold was interrupted Example: The US fixed it’s price to gold at $20.27/ounce and UK fixed its price at ￡4.17/ounce so the exchange rate was $4.86/￡. Gold Prices History of the IMS The Inter-War Years WWII (1918-1944) During this period, currencies were allowed to fluctuate over a fairly wide range in terms of gold and each other Increasing fluctuations in currency values became realized as speculators sold short weak currencies The US adopted a modified gold standard in 1934 During WWII and its chaotic aftermath the US dollar was the only major trading currency that continued to be convertible to gold. How Bretton Woods reshaped the world In the summer of 1944, delegates from 44 countries met in the midst of World War II to reshape the worlds international financial system. The location of the meeting - The Mount Washington Hotel in rural Bretton Woods, New Hampshire – was to ensure that the delegates would have no distractions and no pressure from lobbyists or congress, as they worked on their plans for post-war reconstruction. Never again… The meeting was born out of the determination by US President Franklin D Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill to ensure post-war prosperity through economic co-operation, avoiding the economic conflicts between countries in the 1930s that they believed contributed to the drift to war. One of the chief negotiators was John Maynard Keynes “We have had to perform at one and the same time the tasks appropriate to the economist, to the financier, to the politician, to the journalist, to the propagandist, to the lawyer, to the statesman-even, I think, to the prophet and to the soot