IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ehsrev/v74y2021i4p922-945.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ending Bretton Woods: evidence from the Nixon tapes

Author

Listed:
  • James L. Butkiewicz
  • Scott Ohlmacher

Abstract

Richard Nixon's August 1971 announcement of a set of policies known collectively as the New Economic Policy (NEP), or the ‘Nixon shock’, effectively terminated the Bretton Woods system (BWS) of fixed exchange rates that had governed the international monetary system since 1944. While there are many accounts of Nixon's decision to end the BWS, the secret Nixon White House tapes provide unique insights into the decision‐making process and Nixon's struggle with this decision. Using the tapes as evidence, we find that Nixon resisted ending the BWS for political reasons and did not fully understand the NEP's strategy, particularly the fact that the domestic policies were designed to provide cover for the international policies. The tapes also clarify that the decision to adopt the NEP was made prior to the Camp David Summit of 13–15 August 1971 in response to general speculative pressure. While the US reacted to pressure on the dollar, Nixon and Treasury Secretary John Connally attempted to appear to be driving decisions for the domestic electorate. The temporary float of exchange rates as part of the NEP inevitably became permanent as a result of Nixon's choice of advisors and his preferences for open capital flows and stimulative monetary policy.

Suggested Citation

  • James L. Butkiewicz & Scott Ohlmacher, 2021. "Ending Bretton Woods: evidence from the Nixon tapes," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(4), pages 922-945, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:74:y:2021:i:4:p:922-945
    DOI: 10.1111/ehr.13052
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.13052
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ehr.13052?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Burton A. Abrams & James L. Butkiewicz, 2012. "The Political Business Cycle: New Evidence from the Nixon Tapes," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(2‐3), pages 385-399, March.
    2. Michael D. Bordo & Robert N. McCauley, 2019. "Triffin: Dilemma or Myth?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 67(4), pages 824-851, December.
    3. Michael D. Bordo & Barry Eichengreen, 1993. "A Retrospective on the Bretton Woods System: Lessons for International Monetary Reform," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bord93-1, July.
    4. Benn Steil, 2013. "The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 9925.
    5. Burton A. Abrams, 2006. "How Richard Nixon Pressured Arthur Burns: Evidence from the Nixon Tapes," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 177-188, Fall.
    6. Eric T. Swanson, 2011. "Let's Twist Again: A High-Frequency Event-study Analysis of Operation Twist and Its Implications for QE2," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 42(1 (Spring), pages 151-207.
    7. Irwin, Douglas A., 2013. "The Nixon shock after forty years: the import surcharge revisited," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 29-56, January.
    8. Burton A. Abrams & James L. Butkiewicz, 2017. "The political economy of wage and price controls: evidence from the Nixon tapes," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 170(1), pages 63-78, January.
    9. Franco Modigliani & Richard Sutch, 1967. "Debt Management and the Term Structure of Interest Rates: An Empirical Analysis of Recent Experience," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 569-569.
    10. Michael D. Bordo, 1993. "The Bretton Woods International Monetary System: A Historical Overview," NBER Chapters, in: A Retrospective on the Bretton Woods System: Lessons for International Monetary Reform, pages 3-108, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Martin Feldstein, 2013. "An Interview with Paul Volcker," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(4), pages 105-120, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael D. Bordo & Owen F. Humpage, 2014. "Federal Reserve Policy and Bretton Woods," Working Papers (Old Series) 1407, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    2. Monnet, Eric & Puy, Damien, 2020. "Do old habits die hard? Central banks and the Bretton Woods gold puzzle," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Michael David Bordo, 2021. "Monetary Policy Cooperation/Coordination and Global Financial Crises in Historical Perspective," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 587-611, July.
    4. Cohen, Joseph N., 2008. "Managing the Faustian bargain: monetary autonomy in the pursuit of development in Eastern Europe and Latin America," MPRA Paper 22435, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Michael Patrick Curran & Matthew J. Fagerstrom, 2019. "Monetary Growth and Financial Sector Wages," Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics Working Paper Series 41, Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics.
    6. Torres, Ernani & Zeidan, Rodrigo, 2016. "The life-cycle of national development banks: The experience of Brazil's BNDES," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 97-104.
    7. Höpner, Martin, 2019. "The German undervaluation regime under Bretton Woods: How Germany became the nightmare of the world economy," MPIfG Discussion Paper 19/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    8. Carlo Altavilla & Domenico Giannone, 2017. "The Effectiveness of Non‐Standard Monetary Policy Measures: Evidence from Survey Data," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 952-964, August.
    9. Amr S. Hosny & N. Kundan Kishor & Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee, 2015. "Understanding the dynamics of the macroeconomic trilemma," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 32-64, January.
    10. Michael D. Bordo & Marc Flandreau, 2003. "Core, Periphery, Exchange Rate Regimes, and Globalization," NBER Chapters, in: Globalization in Historical Perspective, pages 417-472, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Joseph E. Gagnon & Matthew Raskin & Julie Remache & Brian P. Sack, 2011. "Large-scale asset purchases by the Federal Reserve: did they work?," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 17(May), pages 41-59.
    12. Michael D. Bordo & Robert N. McCauley, 2019. "Triffin: Dilemma or Myth?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 67(4), pages 824-851, December.
    13. Jeff W. Huther & Jane E. Ihrig & Elizabeth C. Klee, 2017. "The Federal Reserve's Portfolio and its Effect on Interest Rates," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2017-075, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    14. Butkiewicz, James L. & Solcan, Mihaela, 2016. "The original Operation Twist: the War Finance Corporation's war bond purchases, 1918–1920," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(1), pages 21-46, April.
    15. Jagjit S. Chadha & Philip Turner & Fabrizio Zampolli, 2013. "The ties that bind: monetary policy and government debt management," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 29(3), pages 548-581, AUTUMN.
    16. Canlin Li & Min Wei, 2012. "Term structure modelling with supply factors and the Federal Reserve's Large Scale Asset Purchase programs," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2012-37, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    17. Eric Monnet & D. Puy, 2016. "Has Globalization Really Increased Business Cycle Synchronization?," Working papers 592, Banque de France.
    18. Oosterlinck, Kim & Accominotti, Olivier & BRIERE, Marie & Burietz, Aurore & Szafarz, Ariane, 2020. "Did Globalization Kill Contagion?," CEPR Discussion Papers 14395, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. McNelis, Paul D. & Yoshino, Naoyuki, 2016. "Finding stability in a time of prolonged crisis: Unconventional policy rules for Japan," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 122-136.
    20. Simon Gilchrist & Egon ZakrajŠEk, 2013. "The Impact of the Federal Reserve's Large-Scale Asset Purchase Programs on Corporate Credit Risk," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(s2), pages 29-57, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:74:y:2021:i:4:p:922-945. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.