Os desequilíbrios da economia internacional: uma análise crítica do debate recente

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the political economy of international payments imbalances in the spirit of the so called Bretton Woods II Hypothesis (BW II). The BW II hypothesis suggests that the international financial system is experiencing today the reemergence of a new Bretton Woods regime of global fixed exchange rates, allowing United States to finance its large current account deficit at a low cost for a long time. Consequently, the U.S. growing external indebtedness poses few immediate concerns. We explore the arguments of the BW II hypothesis’s formulators and their critics, and in a political economy perspective we try to speculate about the possible implications of the current international imbalances over the peripheral countries.