The Post-War Rise of World Trade: Does the Bretton Woods System Deserve Credit

During the two decades after the Second World War, international tradeexpanded at its most rapid pace of the twentieth century. Between 1948 and1968, the total volume of merchandise exports from non-communist countriesgrew by a remarkable 290 percent. 2 And the growth of world trade during thisperiod far exceeded the expansion of world output. Growth rates of thismagnitude have attracted considerable attention from economic historians, whohave attempted to extract explanations. Textbook accounts focus primarily oncommercial policy or technological factors. However, these traditionalexplanations largely ignore the role of the Bretton Woods international monetarysystem in providing a stable environment for multilateral payments, in whichtrade could flourish.[...]