Rehabilitating the unloved dollar standard

Ronald McKinnon

Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, 2010, vol. 24, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: The international dollar standard is an accident of history that greatly facilitates international trade and exchange. But erratic US monetary and financial policies have upset the American and world economies so as to make foreigners unhappy. A weak and falling dollar led to the great price inflations of the 1970s and to disastrous asset bubbles in the noughties. It aggravated the post-War World's three great oil shocks. The asymmetrical nature of the dollar standard also makes many Americans unhappy because they cannot control their own exchange rate. Although nobody loves the dollar standard, it is a remarkably robust institution that is too valuable to lose and too difficult to replace. Rehabilitating the unloved dollar standard by 'internationalising' American monetary and financial policies to better stabilise the USA and world economies is the only way out of the current impasse. Copyright © 2010 The Author. Journal compilation © 2010 Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd..

Date: 2010
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