[SilasX]

While I'm sympathetic to strong money and therefore explanations like that, it could just as well be that another factor has more explanatory power -- i.e. something else put the US into such dire straits that officials didn't find it feasible to honor the peg.

So, what about the (perhaps too simple) explanation that 1971 is when the developed world finally caught up from the destruction of WWII and investors recognized this? That would mean an end to free wealth for the US, as factor productivity is no longer the highest in the world.