The Bretton Woods Transcripts

The Bretton Woods Transcripts, edited by Center for Financial Stability (CFS) Senior Fellow Kurt Schuler and CFS Research Associate Andrew Rosenberg, offer the reader a front row seat at the conference that shaped the international monetary system for nearly 70 years. The Bretton Woods Transcripts were never intended for publication, and give an inside perspective of what participants at this major international gathering said behind closed doors.

Schuler and Rosenberg spent more than a year carefully and skillfully editing never before published transcripts as well as creating summaries of meetings and participants that established the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and post World War II international financial system.

The Transcripts reveal an untold story from World War II, as well as the vision of luminaries such as John Maynard Keynes, future presidents, prime ministers, and other world leaders. Despite a war still waging in 1944, delegates from 44 nations worked tirelessly in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to construct a financial system that would promote growth, minimize global imbalances, and foster stability.

The Bretton Woods Conference began a new era in international economic cooperation that continues today.

PRAISE FOR THE BRETTON WOODS TRANSCRIPTS

“Schuler, along with his coeditor, Andrew Rosenberg, has done a superb job in putting this treasure trove in shape for publication. Even though there have been thousands and thousands of pages written about the Bretton Woods Conference, nothing beats the transcripts for a first-hand feel of what transpired.”
From the preface by Jacques de Larosière, Managing Director of the IMF from 1978-1987, and Steve H. Hanke, Professor of Applied Economics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

“Kurt Schuler, Andrew Rosenberg and the Center for Financial Stability deserve our thanks and congratulations for having unearthed and then nicely reproduced and edited the original Bretton Woods transcripts. This is truly a treasure trove for historians, showing exactly who said what to whom, when and why at that iconic Conference.”
Charles Goodhart, Financial Markets Group, London School of Economics; formerly Chief Advisor, Bank of England

“Everyone thinks they know what happened at Bretton Woods, but what they know has been filtered by generations of historical accounts. By publishing the Bretton Woods transcripts, Kurt Schuler and Andrew Rosenberg provide the unfiltered version. International monetary history will never be the same.”
Barry Eichengreen, George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

“Historical memory, as we well know, can often fade, becoming encrusted with distortions and misperceptions. With the publication of these transcripts, Kurt Schuler and Andrew Rosenberg have done us all a lasting service. Economists and historians will gain fresh insight into what really happened and what was really intended at Bretton Woods. Diplomats and policy makers can gain valuable lessons about how to successfully organize and manage a complex international negotiation.”
Benjamin J. Cohen, Louis G. Lancaster Professor of International Political Economy, University of California, Santa Barbara

Author: Kurt Schuler

Edition: 1

Binding: Kindle Edition

Manufacturer: Center for Financial Stability

Number of pages: 1351

Product group: eBooks

Studio: Center for Financial Stability

Publication Date: 2012-10-21

Publisher: Center for Financial Stability

Pages: 1351

View this book in Amazon