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Title: the founding of Bretton Woods
Review: I knew the author over 20 years ago. Now, after he's dead, I stumbled across this short book, describing some of his work in economics and economic history. The book follows the evolution of the Bretton Woods arrangements, aka. the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. It goes into some of the negotiations that led to the 44 national signatories agreeing in 1945.We see the original intent for the IMF and World Bank to serve different roles. Something that would change by the 1970s, as both converged to a commonality of duties.More interestingly, the book points out that Bretton Woods did not deliberately exclude the Soviets and their allies. It was an explicit internationalist outlook that sought to correct the flaws after World War 1. It was later, during the early Cold War, that the Soviets opted out of the arrangements.The book does not go into economic theory. No equations. Rather, it is very descriptive, like a traditional history text.
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