Which action is associated with ending the Bretton Woods gold peg?

• A. Nixon's decision to end the dollar's gold peg
• B. IMF expansion
• C. World Bank dissolution
• D. World Trade Organization creation

Answer: (A)

The key idea is the ending of the dollar’s fixed link to gold that defined Bretton Woods. Under that system, currencies were fixed to the U.S. dollar, and the dollar was convertible to gold at a fixed rate. The action that ended this gold peg was President Nixon’s 1971 decision to suspend the dollar’s convertibility into gold, effectively breaking the link and allowing currencies to float. This moment, often called the Nixon Shock, marks the end of the Bretton Woods gold standard.

The other options involve institutions that existed or developed within or after the Bretton Woods framework, but none directly ended the gold backing of the dollar.