The Case for a New Bretton Woods

Amid the devastation of World War ll, the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference convened in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire with the goal of designing an interdependent economic architecture for mutual prosperity. Based on a set of common principles of peace, equity and employment, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the precursor to the World Trade Organization were established to support the provision of global public goods, institutions that in their present form have loomed large in the global economy since their inception.

But the disjointed nature of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and deferment of crucial climate action has revealed a multilateral system in need of fundamental reform. In echoes of the 1930s, the international community cannot coordinate well enough to provide global public goods for stability and prosperity or combat right-wing populism and footloose finance.

Now, the book ‘The Case for a New Bretton Woods,’ by Kevin P. Gallagher and Richard Kozul-Wright makes the case for a new Bretton Woods moment, wherein the international economic institutions of the 20th century undergo sweeping reforms to promote a more prosperous, just and sustainable world economic order, fit for the 21st century.

On Thursday, January 20, 9:30-10:30 AM ET // 15:30-16:30 CET, join the Boston University Global Development Policy Center and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development for the webinar book launch of ‘The Case for a New Bretton Woods.’

Speakers:

• Kevin P. Gallagher: Director, Boston University Global Development Policy Center; Professor of Global Development Policy, Boston University

• Richard Kozul-Wright: Director, Globalisation and Development Strategies Division, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

• Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director, UNAIDS

• Daniela Gabor, Professor of Economics and Macro-Finance, University of the West of England, Bristol

• Jayati Ghosh, Chairperson of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

• William N. Kring (Moderator): Executive Director, Boston University Global Development Policy Center