TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bordo,Michael
AU  - Schwartz,Anna J.
TI  - From the Exchange Stabilization Fund to the International Monetary Fund
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 8100
PY  - 2001
Y2  - January 2001
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8100
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8100.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Michael D. Bordo
Department of Economics
Rutgers University
New Jersey Hall
75 Hamilton Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Tel: 732/822-7152
Fax: 732/932-7416
E-Mail: bordo@econ.rutgers.edu

Anna J. Schwartz
NBER
365 Fifth Ave, 5th Floor
New York, NY  10016
Tel: 212/817-7957
Fax: 212/817-1597
E-Mail: aschwartz@gc.cuny.edu
AB  - We highlight the elements of the operation of the U.S. Exchange Stabilization Fund that Harry Dexter White, who directed the Treasury's division of monetary research, transferred to his plan for the operation of the International Monetary Fund. The elements included the principle that all currencies were equivalent and the goal of the international fund, like that of the U.S. fund, was to stabilize exchange rates. The ESF also influenced White's vision for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The IBRD, however, represented a reaction by White against key elements of ESF stabilization loans, which were very short term, paid above market interest rates, and required collateral. Had White carried forward to the IMF the ESF elements pertaining to interest rates and collateral, its operations would have evolved in a markedly different direction from the one that it has taken.
ER  -