Part 4/9:
The Bretton Woods Agreement
To understand the implications of abandoning the gold standard, we must look back to the Bretton Woods Conference post-World War II. At this pivotal gathering, representatives from 44 countries came together to create systems that would stabilize global trade and finance. The decision was made to tie foreign currencies to the U.S. dollar, with the dollar itself pegged to a fixed amount of gold. Under this system, only central banks were permitted to exchange dollars for gold, excluding personal ownership of gold by citizens.