Global Imbalances and the Lessons of Bretton Woods (Cairoli Lectures)
"As the United States confronts a future that must grapple with the need to provide adequate health care, rebuild infrastructure, and fund retirement, including covering failed private pensions, this book provides a timely reminder of past successes and past failures at dealing with these issues. There is much to be learned from U.S. fiscal policy over the past sixty years if at least the more obvious mistakes are to be avoided."--Francesco Giavazzi, Bocconi University, Milan"Eichengreen's book should be the starting point for the debate about what will happen after the inevitable end of an unsustainable system. With this and his many other books, Eichengreen has established himself as one of the most important voices in that debate." Rawi Abdelal Business History Review"Barry Eichengreen's examination of international monetary history throws much light on current global imbalances and the serious problems they create for the United States."--Robert Solomon, guest scholar, Brookings Institution"History is not what we can readily recall. It is what we must be made to remember before we draw facile analogies between past and present. In this remarkable book, Eichengreen shows why. The present international monetary system may resemble the earlier Bretton Woods system, but Eichengreen finds big differences and argues that the present system is not likely to endure. We may be closer to the end than to the beginning."--Peter B. Kenen, Senior Fellow in International Economics, Council on Foreign Relations, and Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Princeton University"Anyone interested in learning how a developing country might fare in eliminating exchange controls and floating its currency would benefit from studying Eichengreen's book. Much richer than its title suggests, it should be required reading for those interested not only in the history of international monetary arrangements but in their future as well."--Francesco Giavazzi, Bocconi University, Milan