The Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 reshaped the global economy after World War II. Delegates from 44 nations gathered in New Hampshire to establish a stable postwar financial system. The meeting created the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank while pegging most currencies to the U.S. dollar, which was backed by gold. This system fostered decades of stability and growth until 1971, when the United States ended gold convertibility. Bretton Woods marked the beginning of modern financial globalization and the dominance of the U.S. dollar in world trade.
World economy charts, business frameworks and diagrams