By SIMON CONSTABLE
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Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Read more about Bretton Woods…
WSJ: FINANCIAL FLASHBACK• 80 YEARS AGO: Bretton Woods
In July 1944, representatives of 44 nations met in Bretton Woods, N.H., to rejigger the global monetary system and hopefully stabilize the war-ravaged world economy.
The dollar became the new reserve currency, officially replacing the British pound, which had been the dominant currency since the early 1800s. World War I almost bankrupted Britain decades earlier, so the move was long overdue.
The Bretton Woods agreement fixed the value of all exchange rates relative to the dollar. The greenback had a fixed value of $35 a troy ounce of bullion.
Marc Chandler, managing director at currency trading company Bannockburn Global Forex, says picking the greenback over other currencies made sense. “The U.S. emerged as the only major economy not hurt economically by the war,” he says. More here.
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