Extended Book Review On Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise And Fall Of The Dollar And The Future Of The International Monetary System

Abstract

As the world’s only international currency, the US dollar continues to solidify the United States’ position in world finance and trade despite no longer contributing to the majority of industrial production as it once did. This has been referred to as the United States’ exorbitant privilege and plays into US exceptionalism. Evaluating Barry Eichengreen’s: Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the future of the International Monetary System an argument is made for a future with multiple international currencies or at least regional currencies. Such currencies would be able to counter the supremacy of the US dollar in international trade and affairs, resulting in a safer international financial system less susceptible to external critical conjunctures, which could bring world markets into a tizzy. The prospects for the internationalization of the Euro and the Renminbi are explored in keeping with Eichengreen’s postulations.

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