On September 22nd 1985, finance ministers from the world's five biggest economies - the United States, Japan, West Germany, France and the UK - announced the Plaza Accord at the eponymous New York hotel. Each country made specific promises on economic policy: the United States pledged to cut the federal deficit, Japan promised a looser monetary policy and a range of financial-sector reforms, and Germany proposed tax cuts. All countries agreed to intervene in currency markets as necessary to get the dollar down. Perhaps not surprisingly, not all the promises were kept (least of all the American one on deficit cutting), but even so the plan turned out to be spectacularly successful. By the end of 1987, the dollar had fallen by 54% against both the D-mark and the yen from its peak in February 1985. This sharp drop led to a new fear: of an uncontrolled dollar plunge. So in 1987 another big international plan, the Louvre Accord, was hatched to stabilize the dollar. Again specific policy pledges were made (the United States to tighten fiscal policy, Japan to loosen monetary policy). Again the participants promised currency intervention if major currencies moved outside an agreed, but unpublished, set of ranges. The dollar promptly rose.