Acknowledgements
This book is the result of discussions, exchanges and debates with many people over the last eight years, and it is difficult to mention them all here. Walter Jansson has read many drafts of this book and provided insightful comments. Eric Monnet was a continuous source of motivation and support. Mike Bordo has always fed my intellectual curiosity and helped me move forward at various steps of the way. William Allen was kind enough to read the whole manuscript over the years and sense-check it using his experience of working at the Bank. The support of Susan Howson was extremely helpful, and her insightful comments have much improved this book. Yasmin Shearmur read various drafts and made it much better. Barry Eichengreen has also been kind enough to welcome me in Berkeley, and part of the work here is derived from joint efforts. This book is an extension of my PhD dissertation, and the support of David Chambers and Duncan Needham needs to be acknowledged in getting me through the hurdles of the dissertation and making it more incisive and relevant. Duncan also helped me navigate the complexities of the 1976 IMF crisis and sense-checked the chapter on the crisis.
A historian is useless without access to archives. Sara Brimble, Piet Clement, Mike Anson, Rachael Muir, Margherita Orlando, Ben White, Holly Waughman, Julie Sager and Patrick Halbeisen all helped at various stages, and I am extremely grateful to them.
I am indebted to people who have encouraged me to embark on my initial PhD journey by reading my first proposal and providing guidance, mainly Olivier Accominotti, Lars Borner, Rui Esteves, Patrick Halbeisen, Benoit Lecat, Andrea Papadia and Tobias Straumann. Many colleagues have read all or part of this book or have helped to shape my ideas. I am especially grateful to Marc Adams, Simon Amrein, Maylis Avaro, Kathleen Burk, Jason Cen, Devika Dutt, Sam Foxall, Max Harris, Simon Hinrichsen, Ryuichiro Izumi, Craig McMahon, Chris Meissner, Duncan Needham and Tinashe Nyamunda. I also thank Muriel Demottais for excellent research assistance and Dayna Plummer for proofreading the manuscript at various stages. Part of this research was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number ESRC KFW/10324121/0) as well as the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number P2SKP1_181320), and I appreciate that support.