The monetary system which has existed officially since April 1978 (although de facto it has existed since March 1973) is a hybrid one. Its genealogy begins with the fixed exchange rate regime established by the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944. In 1971, repeated crises in the exchange markets produced a collapse of the parities then in existence. In December 1971, attempts to retain the existing system with only minor repairs produced the Smithsonian Agreement, a new set of parities with expanded room for fluctuations around these parities. However, these attempts to repair the system failed. By 1973, the governments of the major currencies were ready to let the market decide what the proper exchange rate for their currencies should be, instead of trying to support rates set by international agreements. But the degree to which these governments were willing to allow the market alone to determine the exchange rates varied from country to country. In the meantime, other countries were experimenting with alternative arrangements. Finally, in 1978, the recogition that each country could choose the exchange rate regime it wished become official.