AUDIOBOOK

Our Dollar, Your Problem

An Insider's View Of Seven Turbulent Decades Of Global Finance, And The Road Ahead

Kenneth Rogoff
5
(1)
Duration
12h 57m
Year
2025
Language
English

About

A leading economist explores the global rise of the US dollar and shows why its future stability is far from assured.
Our Dollar, Your Problem argues that America's currency might not have reached today's lofty pinnacle without a certain amount of good luck.
Drawing in part on his own experiences, including with policymakers and world leaders, Kenneth Rogoff animates the remarkable postwar run of the dollar-how it beat out the Japanese yen, the Soviet ruble, and the euro-and the challenges it faces today from crypto and the Chinese yuan, the end of reliably low inflation and interest rates, political instability, and the fracturing of the dollar bloc.
Americans cannot take for granted that the Pax Dollar era will last indefinitely, not only because many countries are deeply frustrated with the system but also because overconfidence and arrogance can lead to unforced errors. Rogoff shows how America's outsized power and exorbitant privilege can spur financial instability-not just abroad but also at home. Preface
Chapter 1 - Introduction: The Making of a Dominant Currency
PART I - PAST CHALLENGERS TO DOLLAR DOMINANCE - Chapter 2 - The Soviet Challenge
Chapter 3 - Japan and the Yen
Chapter 4 - The Single Currency in Europe
PART II - CHINA: THE PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGER - Chapter 5 - This Time Is Different
Chapter 6 - Zhu Rongji's Uncanny Forecasts
Chapter 7 - The People's Bank of China
Chapter 8 - Prelude to Crisis
Chapter 9 - The End of High Growth
Chapter 10 - The Inevitability of Dollar Decoupling
PART III - EVERYONE ELSE'S PROBLEM: LIVING WITH THE DOLLAR - Chapter 11 - The Lure of Fixed Exchange Rates
Chapter 12 - Hyperinflation
Chapter 13 - When Exchange Rate Pegs Outlive Their Shelf Life
Chapter 14 - Lebanon and Argentina: Unique or Prototypical?
Chapter 15 - The Tokyo Consensus
Chapter 16 - Fixed Exchange Rates Redux
PART IV - ALTERNATIVE CURRENCIES - Chapter 17 - Global Currencies
Chapter 18 - Cryptocurrencies and the Future of Money
Chapter 19 - Central Bank Digital Currencies
PART V - THE PERKS AND BURDENS OF BEING THE DOMINANT CURRENCY - Chapter 20 - Perks of Currency Dominance
Chapter 21 - Exorbitant Privilege or Taxation Without Representation?
Chapter 22 - Small Ways the United States Helps Countries Deal with Dollar Dominance
Chapter 23 - Costs of Being a Dominant Currency
PART VI - PEAK DOLLAR DOMINANCE - Chapter 24 - Central Bank Independence: The Bulwark of Currency Dominance
Chapter 25 - Debtor's Empire: The United States' Achilles' Heel
Chapter 26 - The Siren Call of "Lower Forever" Interest Rates
Chapter 27 - The End of the Pax Dollar Era?
"A well-written, often surprisingly lively book."
"It's an important book, accessible and entertaining. If this time is different, it will help you understand why."
"[Rogoff] worries that we are jeopardizing the dollar's pivotal role in the global economy. That should matter to all Americans."
"The central argument of Our Dollar, Your Problem-that the greenback's pre-eminence was never guaranteed and might plausibly be overturned-could hardly be more timely."
"[Rogoff's] autobiographical element nicely enhances the sometimes technical (but always accessible) monetary story."
"Rogoff brilliantly describes the dominance of the dollar across time and space, its contenders, and the limits to its immortality, weaving in his personal experiences which makes for a delightful read."
"A tour de force-Ken Rogoff pairs delightful personal anecdotes with a sweeping portrait of the international monetary system. Rogoff's prescient view on the possibly 'shrinking' dollar is certainly not to be taken lightly."
"[Rogoff's new book is] very well timed…It's a history of dollar dominance-how we built it, the challenges to it, and a warning, written before the Trump administration, that the rest of the world was already beginning to look for exits from it."

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