@techreport{NBERw8100, title = "From the Exchange Stabilization
Fund to the International Monetary Fund", author = "Michael
Bordo and Anna J. Schwartz", institution = "National Bureau of
Economic Research", type = "Working Paper", series = "Working
Paper Series", number = "8100", year = "2001", month =
"January", URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w8100", abstract =
{We highlight the elements of the operation of the U.S. Exchange
Stabilization Fund that Harry Dexter White, who directed the
Treasury's division of monetary research, transferred to his
plan for the operation of the International Monetary Fund. The
elements included the principle that all currencies were
equivalent and the goal of the international fund, like that of
the U.S. fund, was to stabilize exchange rates. The ESF also
influenced White's vision for the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development. The IBRD, however, represented a
reaction by White against key elements of ESF stabilization
loans, which were very short term, paid ab