The Nixon Shock refers to a series of economic measures announced by United States President Richard Nixon on 15 August 1971, most significantly the unilateral suspension of the dollar's convertibility into gold. The announcement also imposed a ninety day freeze on wages and prices and a ten percent surcharge on imports. Suspending gold convertibility ended the fixed exchange rate system the Bretton Woods Conference had established in 1944, and by 1973 the major industrialized economies had moved to floating exchange rates, a shift that proved politically popular at home in the short term but contributed to currency instability and to the stagflation of the following years.
Facts
LocationWashington, D.C., United States 2 Connections
Associated With
The Nixon Shock unilaterally suspended the dollar's convertibility into gold, ending the fixed exchange rate system the Bretton Woods Conference had established in 1944 and pushing the major industrialized economies toward floating exchange rates by 1973.
Source Wikipedia
Fiat Currency, Concepts The Nixon Shock ended dollar-gold convertibility in 1971, moving the world onto today's fiat-money standard.
Source The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics
Associated With School
Why this is disputed. Monetarist economists, including Milton Friedman, had long argued for floating exchange rates over the fixed system the Nixon Shock ended, though Friedman was not involved in the 1971 decision itself and did not endorse the wage and price controls that accompanied it.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Wikipedia: Great Depression
In the Other Atlases
Located In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Great Depression
Nixon shock, aftermath
By 1973, the floating exchange rate regime de facto replaced the Bretton Woods system for other global currencies.
- Associated With School: Monetarist Economics
View the Source2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationNixon shockQuote, Nixon shock
On Sunday, August 15, when American financial markets were closed, Nixon explained the policy agenda in a national address
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics
Palgrave MacmillanAssociated With: Fiat Currency
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