What was the first Bretton Woods conference?
Bretton Woods is the informal name for the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held in Bretton Woods, N.H., in July, 1944. Officials from 44 countries attended. The central agreement hammered out there said each country would maintain a fixed exchange rate – a policy that has long since collapsed – in order to help encourage the flow of capital across borders. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and the World Trade Organization trace their origins to the meeting. The coming summit is likely to be held in New York after the Nov. 4 U.S. election. Several countries are now lining up for assistance from the International Monetary fund. What is the IMF? The IMF, established at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference, provides financial help to countries in serious economic trouble. It uses money gleaned from its 185 member countries. Those funds, called quotas, vary depending on each country’s size and strength. The U.S. has the biggest quota, at $58-billion. Canada’s
