Doctoral Dissertation Research: Institutional Change Through the End of Bretton Woods

在整个战后时期，布雷顿森林体系通过以固定价格将美元兑换为黄金来确保国际货币之间的稳定汇率。1971年，美国停止了黄金与美元的可兑换政策，此后不久，国际经济就由灵活的汇率管理。本项目考察了货币改革的国际谈判过程，该谈判最终导致了1971年美国的单边行动，这一结果违背了现有的关于制度如何从内部改变的理解。该项目还评估了布雷顿森林体系的终结是否更多地是由国际政治利益而不是国际货币体系本身的必要性驱动的。 调查结果将有助于了解经济危机和相关政治行动之间的关系。该项目将分析大量档案记录，记录导致布雷顿森林体系结束的决策过程。该项目将利用大学公园国家档案馆以及几个总统图书馆的解密文件，对布雷顿森林体系的结束进行最新的历史叙述。有三个目标：1）扩展最新的制度变迁理论，以解决决策过程的动态; 2）阐明一种机制，使经济政策决策利用公众对危机的看法; 3）贡献布雷顿森林体系结束的最新社会科学史。这些目标将通过过程跟踪来实现，以根据复杂的事件序列进行因果推理。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Throughout the postwar period, the Bretton Woods system secured stable exchange rates between international currencies by way of the U.S. dollar convertibility to gold at a set price. In 1971, the United States ceased this policy of gold-dollar convertibility, leaving the international economy governed by flexible exchange rates shortly thereafter. This project examines the process of international negotiation over monetary reform that culminated in unilateral American action in 1971, an outcome that defies existing understandings of how institutions change from within. The project also evaluates whether the end of Bretton Woods was driven more by international political interests than the imperatives of the international monetary system itself. Findings will inform understanding of the relationship between economic crises and related political actions.The project will analyze extensive archival records that document the decision-making process leading to the end of Bretton Woods. Using declassified documents from the National Archives in College Park, as well as several Presidential Libraries, the project will produce an updated historical narrative of the end of Bretton Woods. There are three objectives: 1) to extend the most current theories of institutional change to address the dynamics of policymaking processes; 2) to articulate a mechanism by which economic policy decisions capitalize on public perceptions of crisis; and 3) to contribute an update social science history of the end of Bretton Woods. These objectives will be reached through process-tracing to make causal inferences based on complex sequences of events.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.