Ideology and the International Economy The Decline and Fall of Bretton Woods

Ideology and International Economy is the first major study of the intellectual and institutional forces which combined to undermine the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates. In two decades, Milton Friedman's "case for flexible exchange rates" was transformed from a minority academic viewpoint to the operational framework for the international monetary system. In the process, the International Monetary Fund was defeated, sidelined and in danger of becoming an irrelevant organization.

Robert Leeson is Associate Professor of Economics, Murdoch University, Australia.