Welcome to Money for the Rest of Us. This is a personal financial on money, how it works,

how to invest it, and how to live without worrying about it. I'm your host David Stein

today's episode 409. It's titled, What is the IMF? And why is it controversial?

In July 1944, 730 delegates from 44 nations met at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton

Woods, New Hampshire, for the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. Their

goal was to establish a new monetary system, one that could tap into some of the lessons

from the gold standard, where currencies were backed by gold. That system fell apart

after World War I, but at times countries did back their currency with gold, sometimes

they didn't. Sometimes they would devalue their currencies to make them more competitive

or to make their exports more competitive. They would put up barriers or tariffs, protection

to protect their economies from foreign trade. The idea was to make a system that fostered

more stability in exchange rates and more cooperation, more globalization. The primary

designers of this system were John Maynard Keynes, who was an advisor to the British

Treasury and Harry Dexter White, the chief international economist at the US Treasury

Department. There were two years of preparation for this conference. A lot of discussions

and potential agreements. The conference itself was held from July 1 to 22, 1944, and they

came to an agreement. And as part of that, they established two new organizations, the International

Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which later became part of the World Bank and

the International Monetary Fund. According to the World Bank, here's what they do. The

World Bank Group works with developing countries to reduce poverty and increased shared prosperity,

while the International Monetary Fund serves to stabilize the International Monetary System

and acts as a monitor of the world's currencies. The Bretton Woods Monetary System lasted

...