Bretton Woods achieved the densest capital controls in capitalist history.

Evidence

As indicated by the impossible trilemma developed much later, according to which governments can only realize two out of the three policy goals of fixed exchange rates, free capital movements, and monetary autonomy, the Bretton Woods system sacrificed free capital movements (see Figure 8.1). At the time, this was not perceived as a sacrifice by most economists and politicians. On the contrary, governments were even invited to control all international capital movements. Accordingly, the postwar decades developed into the period with the densest capital controls in the history of international capitalism. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 420

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Mundell-Fleming impossible trinity concept, and to the later chapter analysis of how the ‘trilemma’ framing itself was a product of the monetary debate. — connects to: Capital controls were embedded in the Bretton Woods IMF framework — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists: The End of Empire and the…, 448; The Bretton Woods consensus prioritized domestic full employment over capital mobility — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 416; Growing financial power systematically dismantled Bretton Woods-era regulatory controls. — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 150 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• The Bretton Woods consensus prioritized domestic full employment over capital mobility #expands (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 416
• Growing financial power systematically dismantled Bretton Woods-era regulatory controls. #complicates (0.75) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 150