This lecture will argue that the post-WWII global economy was in large part shaped by the perception that the world had paid a high price for the economic policies and instability of the 1930s. Therefore, the original Articles of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) specified obligations that were intended to pre-empt such policies happening again. However, these obligations were not widely honored and there was no discernible economic loss when these obligations lapsed after the Bretton Woods system of monetary management collapsed in 1971. Only now, with the emergence of substantial excess money supply (and therefore Keynesian problems) among the developed countries can we perceive the cost of abandoning the former Bretton Woods system. Still, it seems unlikely that the world as presently constituted will build a system with the in-built mechanisms that could deter anti-social international economic behavior. Nor does it seem likely that any present-day international organization will choose to play a major role in inducing countries to pursue policies which offer an internationally recognized and satisfactory solution.