This research project compiles and annotates the archival legacy of the Bellagio Group’s founders Fritz Machlup, Robert Triffin, and William Fellner as they sought to reform the international financial system between 1963 and 1974.
At a time of financial crisis and loss of confidence in the international financial system not unlike the global financial crisis of 2008, a team of academics, policy makers, bankers, and corporate leaders sought to reform the system and build support for their reforms. Led by economists Fritz Machlup, Robert Triffin, and William Fellner, the group, which became known as the Bellagio Group after the Rockefeller estate in Lake Como where they often met, would play a major role in creating the current hybrid system based on flexible exchange rates and special drawing rights (SDRs) to protect the system in the event of a crisis.