he Motivations and Collapse of the Bretton Woods System

Monetary stability, the weak IMF enforcement, and the Nixon Shock


The central objective would be to establish an environment conducive to international trade and
investment. Thus, the well-being of each nation would be maximized while avoiding conflicts
that would lead to war.

The Nixon shock made it abundantly clear that this system, which was lauded as a pillar of
international cooperation, was rooted in self-interest that worked against the design and
ultimately contributed to its collapse.

the IMF failed in terms of enforcing its regulations upon the world, allowing for a perversion of
the system designed at the Bretton Woods Conference.

In 1951, the United States held $22.9 billion of the total official gold reserves of the IMF, which
amounted to $33.5 billion. In 1968, the United States only held $10.9 billion of a total $38.7
billion.