The Bretton Woods Transcripts

The Bretton Woods Transcripts, edited by Center for Financial Stability Senior Fellow Kurt Schuler and Research Associate Andrew Rosenberg, offer 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

"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

“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; Former Chief Advisor, Bank of England

“The global economy is stuck with low growth rates and over indebtedness in many leading countries today. Thus, what better than to counter now with how the founding fathers of the IMF and the World Bank negotiated a broad consensus to create an institution with a clear technical, financial, and macro mandate?”
Eduardo Aninat, Former Deputy Managing Director, IMF; Former Finance Minister of Chile; Present, Director General, UNIAPAC Foundation

“Bretton Woods set the standard for all future international economic conferences. These transcripts are a precious contribution to historical study and more importantly an inspiration for those charged with shaping the future.”
Lawrence H. Summers, Former Secretary, US Treasury; Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University

“A fascinating new book, The Bretton Woods Transcripts, has just been published by the Center for Financial Stability. Kurt Schuler and his coeditor Andrew Rosenberg have done a remarkable job of making the book user friendly. Their commentary is fascinating in its own right.”
John B. Taylor, Former Under Secretary, US Treasury; Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics, Stanford University

“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