The Global Currency Power of the US Dollar

This book explains how the US dollar serves as the primary reserve currency for the international financial system and assesses its prospects for the future. The book provides an analysis of the main factors that have given rise to the global currency power of the dollar and the key benefits that have accrued to both the United States and other countries from this arrangement. It then considers the growing costs that can be associated with the dollar-centered reserve system and the prospects for the medium-term in terms of its potential threats to global financial stability. In the light of these considerations, the book examines three alternative currency arrangements that could address some or all of the defects associated with the global currency power of the dollar. These include a shift to a multi-reserve currency system, an enhancement of the IMF's role as an international lender of last resort and provider of global 'safe' assets, and the introduction of central bank digital currencies. 

Anthony Elson is an international economist, writer, and university lecturer residing in the Washington, D.C. area. For a number of years, he was a senior staff member of the International Monetary Fund. Since leaving the Fund, he has worked as a consultant for the World Bank and has taught at Duke, Johns Hopkins and Yale Universities. He has also been a Senior Associate at St. Antony's College (Oxford University), a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, and the AGIP Professor of International Economics at the Johns Hopkins SAIS European Center. He is the author of four previous books on globalization published by Palgrave Macmillan: Governing Global Finance: The Evolution and Reform of the International Financial Architecture (2011); Globalization and Development: Why East Asia Surged Ahead and Latin America Fell Behind (2013); The Global Financial Crisis in Retrospect: Evolution, Resolution and Lessons for Prevention (2017); and The United States in the World Economy: Making Sense of Globalization (2019).