Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System
Language: English
Published by Oxford University Press Inc, 2011
- Hardcover
- Used
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For more than half a century, the U.S. dollar has been the single most important currency, not just in the United States but globally. When the greenback became the leading international currency after World War II, this reinforced America's status one of the mightiest economic powers in world history. However, recent events have raised serious doubts about the future of the dollar. Among these have been the effects of the Great Recession in the U.S.: high unemployment, record federal deficits, and unprecedented financial distress. So profound has been the impact on the esteem in which the dollar is held that some say it may soon cease to be the world's standard currency - which could significant depress American living standards and weaken the country's international influence. Is the situation that bad? In Exorbitant Privilege, one of our foremost experts on the international financial system argues that while the dollar is bound to lose its singular status - that it will be forced to share it with newcomers like the Euro and the Chinese Renminbi - the coming changes will be neither sudden nor dire. Barry Eichengreen puts today's crisis in historical context, revealing that even after the United States became the world's largest economy around 1880, the dollar had a limited international role. While the founding of the Federal Reserve in 1914 launched the dollar's international career, only after World War II, with Europe and Japan in ruins, did the dollar become the world's monetary lingua franca - the reserve currency of the world's banks and the kind of cash accepted virtually everywhere. French President Charles de Gaulle complained of this "exorbitant privilege" - that a captive demand for dollars allowed the United States to inflate its living standard and extend military power. Now, with the rise of China, India, Brazil and other emerging economies, America no longer towers over the global economy like before. And the U.S. itself faces very serious economic and financial challenges as it contemplates its medium-term future. But despite this, Eichengreen argues, predictions of the dollar's demise are greatly exaggerated. The most likely outcome is that the dollar will only slowly be supplanted by other currencies in a gradual transition that will resemble the relatively stable situation that prevailed before World War I. Incisive, challenging and frequently iconoclastic, Exorbitant Privilege is a fascinating analysis of the changes that lie ahead, and a welcome rejoinder to predictions of America's inevitable decline.…
Seller Inventory # CIN0199753784VG
- Title
- Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System
- Author
- Barry Eichengreen
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press Inc
- Publication year
- 2011
- Condition
- Very Good
- Binding
- Hardback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0199753784
- ISBN 13
- 9780199753789
This dependence on dollars, by banks, corporations and governments around the world, is a source of strength for the United States. It is, as a critic of U.S. policies once put it, America's "exorbitant privilege." However, recent events have raised concerns that this soon may be a privilege lost. Among these have been the effects of the financial crisis and the Great Recession: high unemployment, record federal deficits, and financial distress. In addition there is the rise of challengers like the euro and China's renminbi. Some say that the dollar may soon cease to be the world's standard currency--which would depress American living standards and weaken the country's international influence.
In Exorbitant Privilege, one of our foremost economists, Barry Eichengreen, traces the rise of the dollar to international prominence over the course of the 20th century. He shows how the greenback dominated internationally in the second half of the century for the same reasons--and in the same way--that the United States dominated the global economy. But now, with the rise of China, India, Brazil and other emerging economies, America no longer towers over the global economy. It follows, Eichengreen argues, that the dollar will not be as dominant. But this does not mean that the coming changes will necessarily be sudden and dire--or that the dollar is doomed to lose its international status. Challenging the presumption that there is room for only one true global currency--either the dollar or something else--Eichengreen shows that several currencies have shared this international role over long periods. What was true in the distant past will be true, once again, in the not-too-distant
future.
The dollar will lose its international currency status, Eichengreen warns, only if the United States repeats the mistakes that led to the financial crisis and only if it fails to put its fiscal and financial house in order. The greenback's fate hinges, in other words, not on the actions of the Chinese government but on economic policy decisions here in the United States.
Incisive, challenging and iconoclastic, Exorbitant Privilege, which was shortlisted for the FT Goldman Sachs 2011 Best Business Book of the Year, is a fascinating analysis of the changes that lie ahead. It is a challenge, equally, to those who warn that the dollar is doomed and to those who regard its continuing dominance as inevitable.
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About the Author
Barry Eichengreen is Professor of Political Science and Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. His previous books include The European Economy Since 1945, Global Imbalances and the Lessons of Bretton Woods, Capital Flows and Crises, and Financial Crises and What to Do About Them. He has written for the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, and other publications.
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