Economic Crises Case Study

US Financial Crisis: Is It the Moment for Bretton Woods II?

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Abstract:
The case is meant to invoke the reason and the origin behind the Bretton Woods system to provoke a debate as regards its proposed rerun in the context of the US financial crisis (2008), which has begun to engulf the whole of the globalised world and, therefore, cries out for a synchronised global response. Whether the requisite response should come from a Bretton Woods-style concord of yesteryears or from a reformatted Bretton Woods system and, whether there is any scope for the Bretton Woods II moment as such can all be known and argued upon as the case unfolds itself to the readers. The case captures the working of gold standard, floating exchange rate, adjustable pegged Bretton Woods system, post-Bretton Woods informal system, the US housing bubble and burst, the credit crunch and finally the financial crisis spilling all over the globe.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To understand the reasons for the origin of the Bretton Woods System
• To analyse the factors leading to the demise of the Bretton Woods System
• To understand the connection between the post-Bretton Woods Informal System and the US Housing Boom
• To analyse the process by which the US Housing Boom led to the US and the Global Financial Crisis
• To debate over the revival of the Bretton Woods System.

Keywords : US Financial crisis of 2008, Housing Bubble, Subprime Crisis, MBS, Financial Derivatives, Credit Crisis Indicators, Bailout, Deficit Financing, Liquidity Trap, Money Illusion Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, Deficit Financing, Paradox of Thrift, Multiplier, Phillips Curve, Tradeoff, Stagflation, Quantity Theory of Money, Supply-Side Economics, Laffer Curve, Broken Window Fallacy, Hangover Theory