Sterling's Past, Dollar's Future: Historical Perspectives on Reserve Currency Competition

Barry Eichengreen ()

No 11336, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper provides an historical perspective on reserve currency competition and on the prospects of the dollar as an international currency. It questions the conventional wisdom that competition for reserve-currency status is a winner-take-all game, showing that several currencies have often shared this role in the past and arguing that innovations in financial markets make it even more likely that they will do so in the future. It suggests that the dollar and the euro are likely to share this position for the foreseeable future. Hopes that the yuan could become a major international currency 20 or even 40 years from now are highly premature.

JEL-codes: F0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hpe and nep-mon
Date: 2005-05
Note: DAE IFM
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