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Ideas, Interests, and the Transition to a Floating Exchange System
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2020
Abstract:
Milton Friedman’s idea of flexible exchange rates was heresy for Americans until the mid-1960s. However, by the late 1970s the idea became embedded in academic thought, policymaking, and business practices. This article analyzes how floating currencies, once eschewed, became embraced as legitimate in the US through the late 1960s and early 1970s. It demonstrates how business leaders’ economic interests and laissez-faire economists’ framework for causes of and solutions to business hardships contributed to society’s acceptance of currency flexibility. Increasing societal support of flexible currencies strengthened the power of float-advocates within the US government, facilitating the transition of the international monetary system from fixed exchange rates to floating. This study highlights how material interests and policy discourses contributed to America’s new policy orientation. It also addresses the origins of the neoliberal international financial order by documenting how American elites reconstituted the state-market balance in global finance while navigating monetary crises.
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- © Donald Critchlow and Cambridge University Press 2020
Footnotes
The authors thank Nicolas Thompson, Craig Parsons, and three anonymous reviewers from this journal for their critical comments and constructive suggestions.
References
Notes
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89. FRUS 1969–76, vol. 31, no. 17. Overall, the members of Congress did not show any interest in international monetary issues until early 1973. The only exception was Rep. Henry Reuss (D–WI), who was open to various reform ideas, including currency flexibility.
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100. De Vries, The International Monetary Fund, 224–25.
101. Ibid., 227. For similar comments by another IMF official and Volcker himself, see Williamson, The Failure of World Monetary Reform, 1971–74, 70; Volcker and Gyohten, Changing Fortunes, 122.
102. “IMF Moves Toward New Money Rules,” Washington Post, 1 August 1973.
103. “Monetary Reform Soon: Schmidt,” Chicago Tribune, 31 July 1973; “Witteveen to Be I.M.F. Chief; Ministers Agree on S.D.R. Use,” New York Times, 1 August 1973.
104. “Learning to Float,” Wall Street Journal; FRUS 1969–76, vol. 31, no. 46.
105. Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 121–27, chap. 5. In the summer of 1973, Kissinger was patiently working to reconfigure the Atlantic alliance. However, Europeans were not very cooperative because they knew Nixon, preoccupied with Watergate, could not give enough attention to that matter.
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107. “Learning to Float,” Wall Street Journal.
108. U.S. Congress, How Well Are Fluctuating Exchange Rates Working?; “Congress Is Told of Trade Woes by Four Businessmen,” New York Times, 21 June 1973.
109. “Learning to Float,” Wall Street Journal, 8 June 1973.
110. U.S. House of Representatives, International Monetary Reform, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on International Finance, of the Committee on Banking and Currency, 93rd Cong., 1st sess., July 1973, 39–40.
111. “Floating Backed for Currencies: Congressional Group Calls System ‘Best Available Alternative,’” New York Times, 20 August 1973.
112. CED, Strengthening the World Monetary System (New York, 1973), 37–39Google Scholar; “Greater Flexibility in Exchange Rates Called for by CED in Monetary Report,” Washington Post, 26 July 1973. It also testified in front of Congress in early 1973, supporting “market-oriented adjustments through exchange rate changes.” U.S. Congress, The 1973 Economic Report of the President. Hearings Before the Joint Economic Committee, 93rd Cong., 1st sess., 1973, 572. U.S. Chamber made similar comments at the same hearings. The NAM also published a similar report on the international monetary system in 1974. The International Monetary System, submitted by the International Economic Affairs Committee, at the Board of Directors meeting, 16 September 1974. HML Acc. 1411, Series IX, Box 160.
113. Schriftgiesser, Business Comes of Age; “Business Launches Bretton Woods Aid,” New York Times, 1 June 1945.
114. “Shultz Names Monetary Reform Panel: Advisory Committee,” New York Times, 23 August 1973. Other names included Robert Roosa (former treasury undersecretary and currently Brown Bros. Harriman & Co.), William Blackie (Caterpillar Tractor Company), A. W. Clausen (Bank of America), Gaylord Freeman (First National Bank of Chicago), Gabriel C. Hauge (Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company), Ellmore C. Patterson (Morgan Guaranty Trust Company), and Walter B. Wriston (First National City Bank). Among the former treasury secretaries, Fowler alone was by then actively voicing his opinions on international monetary matters. He still did not want floating as a permanent system but softened his position substantially, supporting greater flexibility in exchange rates. “Monetary Reform Is Urged,” New York Times, 29 March 1972; “Organizing for a Muddled World,” Wall Street Journal, 28 March 1973.
115. Advisory Committee, Minutes of Meeting of 29 August 1973. Nixon Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, CA (NLM), White House Central Files: Staff Member and Office Files, Herbert Stein (Stein Files), Box 99.
116. Memo from Richard Erb to Peter Flanigan, 7 September 1973. NLM, White House Central Files: Subject Files, International Organizations (IT Files), Box 8.
117. “U. S.–E. E.C. Disagreement Reported at Paris Parley,” New York Times, 6 September 1973.
118. De Vries, The International Monetary Fund, 232–33, 239.
119. “Deadlock Is Seen on Money Reform,” New York Times, 8 September 1973.
120. Ibid.
121. “Which Goes First, Trade Or Money?,” New York Times, 16 September 1973; “I.M.F. Meeting,” New York Times, 19 September 1973.
122. Treasury Department Consultant’s meeting, Minutes of Meeting of 18 September 1973. NLM, Stein Files, Box 99.
123. “Monetary Notebook from Nairobi,” New York Times, 30 September 1973.
124. FRUS 1969–76, vol. 31, no. 53.
125. Williamson, The Failure of World Monetary Reform, 1971–74, 71.
126. Volcker and Gyohten, Changing Fortunes, 123.
127. Ibid., 141.
128. Eichengreen, Globalizing Capital, 137–38.
129. Ibid., 138–39; Helleiner, States and the Reemergence of Global Finance, 123.
130. See Odell, U.S. International Monetary Policy, 327–29, 334; Eichengreen, Globalizing Capital, 154–56; Helleiner, States and the Reemergence of Global Finance, 132–54; Volcker and Gyohten, Changing Fortunes, 140–41, 146. As currency fluctuation seemed to get out of hand in the late 1970s, the United States resorted to concerted currency interventions with Germany in 1977 and 1978. It even briefly considered adopting capital controls to stem speculation against the dollar. However, the American government ultimately chose austerity, instead of currency interventions or capital controls, to address the dollar crisis. President Carter appointed Paul Volcker as Fed chair in 1979, who was known for his strong will to curb inflation. Volcker proved his reputation by adopting a series of monetary measures in October 1979, which subsequently stopped the free fall of the dollar and brought down inflation.
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