The document discusses the origins and structure of international economic regimes established after World War II. It introduces the Bretton Woods system, which established the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, later the WTO) to govern global monetary, trade, and investment relations. The Bretton Woods system aimed to prevent competitive currency devaluations and tariff wars that deepened the Great Depression, and establish a liberal economic order to support postwar democracy and prosperity. However, tensions grew between Western allies and the Soviet Union due to differing views on communism's role in the postwar world.

1. Y376 International Political Economy September 1, 2009

4. Organization of Spero and Hart Regimes Periods Bretton Woods Interdependence Globalization Monetary Trade Investment

6. Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire John Maynard Keynes (center) 44 countries sent delegates, July 22, 1944

9. Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression

10. Annual Production in Five Countries, 1927-1937 Source: Christina Romer (1993), " The Nation in Depression ," JEP 7:2 (Spring), pp. 19-39.