Landmark agreement signed at an international conference in 1944
at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, US, aimed at ensuring a stable
monetary system after World World II, mainly through the use of
fixed exchange rates. The agreement also established the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  Bretton Woods
refers to the international monetary arrangement, agreed upon by
the allied nations in 1944 in Bretton Woods, US, that created
the IMF and World Bank and that set up a system of fixed
exchange rates with the US dollar as the international reserve
currency. To provide credibility, the US agreed to exchange
dollars for gold at a fixed price. In the early 1970s the US
printed large amounts of dollars, presumably to help finance the
Vietnam War, which led to large reductions in its holdings of
gold as the international community traded dollars for gold. In
1971 President Nixon terminated the convertibility of the dollar
to gold, which ended Bretton Woods. Since then, though, the
dollar has maintained