布雷顿森林体系与“特里芬难题”

The Bretton Woods System and the Triffin Dilemma

布雷顿森林体系是国际货币体系发展的一个重要阶段。布雷顿森林体系的建立,对战后世界经济的恢复和发展起了重要的作用。但是,布雷顿森林体系是英美为争夺战后国际货币体系控制权进行斗争和达成妥协的产物,它具有难以克服的内在矛盾和弱点。早在20世纪60年代出现的"特里芬难题",揭示了这些矛盾与弱点。20世纪70年代初,布雷顿森林体系爆发危机,西方国家相继实行浮动汇率制。在浮动汇率下,布雷顿森林体系的改革迈出了缓慢而艰难的步伐。几十年来,改革并没有取得决定性的成果。在当今金融危机加重的时刻,如何改革和重建布雷顿森林体系,又成为世界经济发展最重要的话题。

The establishment of the Bretton Woods System in 1944 was a crucial step in the development of a strong international monetary system,which promoted the recovery and prosperity of the post-war economy.However the system was a compromise between the United States and Great Britain on the issue of who would take the lead in the post-war global economy.The system was designed to be favorable only to the United States and Britain and has therefore always been congenitally deficient from a global perspective.The weakness of the system,the so-called'Triffin Dilemma',was exposed in the early 1960s and since the 1970s the Flexible Exchange Rate System has been in operation,but no satisfactory reform of the Bretton Woods System has been achieved.Under the pressure of the current global financial crisis,there has recently been a strong call for a readjustment of the Bretton Woods System,arguably the most important factor in promoting global financial development.