Chile, Argentina and the Bretton Woods System (1945-1973)

Thesis

This thesis analyses how Latin America’s Southern Cone actively and strategically navigated the Bretton Woods international monetary system (1945–1973). Aiming to re-centre traditional accounts focused on industrialised economies, it shows how Chile and Argentina engaged and shaped global financial developments in the postwar era. Central to those interactions were the countries’ fragile external positions and their ISI models, which remained at odds with global non-discriminatory norms. Drawing upon a vast range of archival sources, from government agencies to major trading partners’ records, this dissertation is divided into three main parts. Part I explores how the Southern Cone navigated the complex postwar dollar shortage and the emergence and consolidation of currency blocs. Chapter 1 delves into Chile’s use of a discriminatory system of multiple exchange rates, while Chapter 2 analyses the unfolding and crisis of what this thesis refers to as the ‘bilateral-nationalistic’ strategy in Argentina. Part II focuses on the global transition towards multilateralism, normally signalled by currency convertibility of major industrial countries. In the Southern Cone, such a shift took the form of stabilisation programmes aimed at modernising the countries’ import-substitution models and buttressed by unprecedented levels of international cooperation (Chapters 3 and 4). Finally, Part III examines the eventful final decade of the Bretton Woods order, which roughly coincided with the Southern Cone’s industrial heyday. It shows how a combination of improved trade conditions and international assistance enabled both Chile (Chapter 5) and Argentina (Chapter 6) to enjoy a comfortable external position and assist America with its balance of payments constraints in the late 1960s. Taken together, the three parts of this thesis reveal a more complex architecture of the postwar order, portraying it as a truly global system deeply embedded in cooperation and multilateralism.

Authors: González-Aliaga, U

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-g7m9eoao9
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Bretton Woods; Argentina; Chile
• Subjects: Economic History; Latin American History; Financial History