In 1971 the Bretton Woods system had ended in its original form when the United States unilaterally ceased exchanging dollars for gold. By 1973, responding in part to the diligent persuasion of Haberler and other neoliberals, the States let the dollar "float," allowing market demand (alongside targeted state interventions) to dictate its value. In turn, many of the world's currencies floated too, launching an era of a variety of monetary strategies ranging from flexible exchange rates to "managed floating." Si­mul­ta­neously, the end of IMF authorization for controls on capital movements brought back the "hot money" flows of the 1930s, amplified in volume by the greater global connectivity of telecommunications. New investment flows ­were available to nations worldwide, but capital flight could also be punitive if foreign investors disapproved of costly policies like building domestic welfare states through higher taxation.

Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, loc. 792