{
  "title": "Christine Lagarde on the Future of Bretton Woods",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/06/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight",
  "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/06/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight",
  "overlayPath": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/06/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight/index.md",
  "summary": "IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde writes on the future of Bretton Woods and global economic cooperation.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- Letter addressed to the next generation reflecting on the 75-year history of Bretton Woods and calling for renewed global economic cooperation.\n- Context: delegates from more than 40 countries met at Bretton Woods to design a postwar order aimed at avoiding the protectionist mistakes that worsened the Great Depression.\n- Bretton Woods established the International Monetary Fund with three missions: promoting international monetary cooperation, supporting the expansion of trade and economic growth, and discouraging policies that would harm prosperity."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Historical achievements highlighted",
      "content": "- Over its 75-year history, the IMF has adapted while serving its 189 members with “wallet, brain, and heart”: policy advice, technical assistance and training, and financial support.\n- Concrete outcomes cited:\n  - Trade has reduced the cost of living for a typical family in low-income countries by two-thirds, and in advanced economies, by a quarter.\n  - Globally, more than 1 billion people have climbed out of poverty.\n- The Bretton Woods framework helped prevent the return to isolationist policies that contributed to the Great Depression and subsequent conflict."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Persistent and emerging challenges",
      "content": "- Enduring problems:\n  - Far too many still suffer from poverty and lack of opportunity.\n  - Young people are among the most disadvantaged.\n  - Many low-income countries will struggle to meet their Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.\n  - Poverty, rising inequality, and new technologies have sparked anger and resentment; corruption has eroded trust in institutions.\n- Risks:\n  - Unilateral, go-it-alone approaches could lead to an “Age of Anger,” repeating historical breakdowns in international cooperation.\n- Two priority issues raised by younger generations:\n  - Climate change threatens the future of the planet; “if you do not have a plan for the environment, you do not have a plan for the economy.”\n  - Corruption: the annual global cost of bribery alone amounts to $1.5 to $2 trillion and has corrosive societal effects.\n- Reference to past financial instability: regulators should guard against the kind of financial excess that led to the debilitating global financial crisis 10 years ago."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy agenda and recommendations",
      "content": "- Domestic policy priorities:\n  - Fiscal policy must create broader opportunities through access to quality education, health care, and infrastructure—especially for those left behind.\n  - Pay special attention to young people and to women.\n  - Address excessive inequality via progressive tax measures that are country-specific and through stronger social safety nets to manage dislocations from technological change and globalization.\n  - Central banks should guard against inflation as “the worst tax on the poor.”\n  - Regulators must prevent financial excesses that can trigger crises.\n- International policy priorities (a “new multilateralism”):\n  - Reform trade systems to address distortions while preserving the benefits of openness, which historically spread technologies, boosted productivity, and created jobs with higher wages.\n  - Reform international corporate taxation to ensure multinational companies pay their fair share and to preserve tax revenues needed for essential investment in people and infrastructure.\n  - Strengthen cooperation to tackle climate change and corruption as global collective-action problems."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Vision and call to action",
      "content": "- Advocacy for building an “Age of Ingenuity” grounded in a renewed commitment to global economic cooperation and shared prosperity.\n- Emphasis on collective responsibility: “solidarity was self-interest,” and prosperity should not be “scattered here or there among the fortunate or to enjoy it at the expense of others.”\n- Encouragement to the next generation to invent, innovate, and pursue greener and more inclusive policies to achieve greater prosperity for all.\n\nChristine Lagarde, \"Updating Bretton Woods,\" F&D Magazine, June 2019.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- كلام صريح - تحديث نظام بريتون وودز\n  - كلام صريح - تحديث نظام بريتون وودز (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - كلام صريح - تحديث نظام بريتون وودز (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Updating Bretton Woods\n  - Updating Bretton Woods (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Updating Bretton Woods (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Christine Lagarde y el futuro de Bretton Woods – F&D | El FMI a los 75\n  - Christine Lagarde y el futuro de Bretton Woods – F&D | El FMI a los 75 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Christine Lagarde y el futuro de Bretton Woods – F&D | El FMI a los 75 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Christine Lagarde : l’avenir de Bretton Woods – F&D | Le FMI a 75 ans\n  - Christine Lagarde : l’avenir de Bretton Woods – F&D | Le FMI a 75 ans (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Christine Lagarde : l’avenir de Bretton Woods – F&D | Le FMI a 75 ans (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Откровенный разговор. Обновление Бреттон-Вудса – Финансы и развитие – июнь 2019 года\n  - Откровенный разговор. Обновление Бреттон-Вудса – Финансы и развитие – июнь 2019 года (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Откровенный разговор. Обновление Бреттон-Вудса – Финансы и развитие – июнь 2019 года (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- 重拾布雷顿森林会议精神 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊\n  - 重拾布雷顿森林会议精神 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - 重拾布雷顿森林会议精神 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/06/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight"
    }
  ],
  "bullets": [
    "[Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/06/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight/index.md)",
    "[Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/06/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight/index.json)",
    "[Bundle manifest](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/06/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight/bundle-manifest.json)",
    "Authors: CHRISTINE LAGARDE",
    "Published: June 1, 2019",
    "Letter addressed to the next generation reflecting on the 75-year history of Bretton Woods and calling for renewed global economic cooperation.",
    "Context: delegates from more than 40 countries met at Bretton Woods to design a postwar order aimed at avoiding the protectionist mistakes that worsened the Great Depression.",
    "Bretton Woods established the International Monetary Fund with three missions: promoting international monetary cooperation, supporting the expansion of trade and economic growth, and discouraging policies that would harm prosperity.",
    "Over its 75-year history, the IMF has adapted while serving its 189 members with “wallet, brain, and heart”: policy advice, technical assistance and training, and financial support.",
    "Concrete outcomes cited:",
    "The Bretton Woods framework helped prevent the return to isolationist policies that contributed to the Great Depression and subsequent conflict.",
    "Enduring problems:",
    "Risks:",
    "Two priority issues raised by younger generations:",
    "Reference to past financial instability: regulators should guard against the kind of financial excess that led to the debilitating global financial crisis 10 years ago.",
    "Domestic policy priorities:",
    "International policy priorities (a “new multilateralism”):",
    "Advocacy for building an “Age of Ingenuity” grounded in a renewed commitment to global economic cooperation and shared prosperity.",
    "Emphasis on collective responsibility: “solidarity was self-interest,” and prosperity should not be “scattered here or there among the fortunate or to enjoy it at the expense of others.”",
    "Encouragement to the next generation to invent, innovate, and pursue greener and more inclusive policies to achieve greater prosperity for all.",
    "**كلام صريح - تحديث نظام بريتون وودز**",
    "**Updating Bretton Woods**",
    "**Christine Lagarde y el futuro de Bretton Woods – F&D | El FMI a los 75**",
    "**Christine Lagarde : l’avenir de Bretton Woods – F&D | Le FMI a 75 ans**",
    "**Откровенный разговор. Обновление Бреттон-Вудса – Финансы и развитие – июнь 2019 года**",
    "**重拾布雷顿森林会议精神 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊**"
  ],
  "related": [
    {
      "title": "كلام صريح - تحديث نظام بريتون وودز",
      "role": "document",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/ar/straight.pdf",
      "summary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/ar/straight.pdf.md",
        "mime": "text/markdown"
      },
      "binary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/ar/straight.pdf",
        "mime": "application/pdf"
      }
    },
    {
      "title": "Updating Bretton Woods",
      "role": "document",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf",
      "summary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf.md",
        "mime": "text/markdown"
      },
      "binary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf",
        "mime": "application/pdf"
      }
    },
    {
      "title": "Christine Lagarde y el futuro de Bretton Woods – F&D | El FMI a los 75",
      "role": "document",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/es/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf",
      "summary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/es/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf.md",
        "mime": "text/markdown"
      },
      "binary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/es/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf",
        "mime": "application/pdf"
      }
    },
    {
      "title": "Christine Lagarde : l’avenir de Bretton Woods – F&D | Le FMI a 75 ans",
      "role": "document",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/fr/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf",
      "summary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/fr/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf.md",
        "mime": "text/markdown"
      },
      "binary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/fr/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf",
        "mime": "application/pdf"
      }
    },
    {
      "title": "Откровенный разговор. Обновление Бреттон-Вудса – Финансы и развитие – июнь 2019 года",
      "role": "document",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/ru/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf",
      "summary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/ru/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf.md",
        "mime": "text/markdown"
      },
      "binary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/ru/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf",
        "mime": "application/pdf"
      }
    },
    {
      "title": "重拾布雷顿森林会议精神 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊",
      "role": "document",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/zh/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf",
      "summary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/zh/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf.md",
        "mime": "text/markdown"
      },
      "binary": {
        "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/june/zh/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight.pdf",
        "mime": "application/pdf"
      }
    }
  ],
  "alternates": {
    "markdown": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/06/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight/index.md",
    "json": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/06/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight/index.json",
    "bundleManifest": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2019/06/christine-lagarde-future-of-bretton-woods-straight/bundle-manifest.json"
  },
  "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-15T04:43:32.672Z"
}