Reshaping the World’s Wallet: The Reality of De-Dollarization
Virtual Briefing Series
Wednesday, November 1st, 2023 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET
For decades, the U.S. dollar has reigned supreme as a dominant force in global markets, earning it the moniker of a “global currency.” This dominance has bestowed significant economic, political, and social advantages upon the United States. However, critics contend that the dollar’s supremacy might come at a price, potentially leading to issues like increased unemployment and debt. It has also ignited conversations about the merits of transitioning to a multipolar currency system that could benefit not just the U.S., but the entire world. Since August, the BRICS nations have been considering reducing their dependence on the U.S. dollar in international trade, as exemplified by China’s recent endeavors to enhance the status of the renminbi (RMB). As the U.S. dollar’s role in global markets diminishes, how should the U.S. prepare for this new reality? Should the U.S. government take steps to maintain the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency? How are recent efforts by China to elevate the status of the renminbi (RMB) affecting the global currency landscape?
Join us on Wednesday, November 1st from 12PM to 1PM ET for an insightful discussion that explores the shifting role of the U.S. dollar and its potential repercussions on the global economy. Our speakers for this De-dollarization discussion are Daniel McDowell, an associate professor at Syracuse University and author of “Bucking the Buck: US Financial Sanctions and the International Backlash against the Dollar,” and Barry Eichengreen, the George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science at U.C. Berkeley, known for his work, “Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System.”
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SUGGESTED READINGS:
Barry Eichengreen, The Stealth Erosion of Dollar Dominance: Active Diversifiers and the Rise of Nontraditional Reserve Currencies, International Monetary Fund Working Papers, 2022.
Barry Eichengreen, Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System, Oxford University Press, 2012.
Daniel McDowell, Financial Sanctions and Political Risk in the International Currency System, Review of International Political Economy, 2021.
Daniel McDowell, Payments Power: The Overlooked Role of the Dollar as Top International Payments Currency, International Studies Perspectives, 2020.
Daniel McDowell, Systemic Strengths, Domestic Deficiencies: The Renminbi’s Future as a Reserve Currency. (with David Steinberg), Journal of Contemporary China, 2017.
SPEAKERS:
Barry Eichengreen
Barry Eichengreen is George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Chair and Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. In 1997-98 he was Senior Policy Advisor at the International Monetary Fund.
Professor Eichengreen is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (class of 1997). He is a distinguished fellow of the American Economic Association (class of 2022), a corresponding fellow of the British Academy (class of 2022), and a Life Fellow of the Cliometric Society (class of 2013). He has held Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships and been a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Palo Alto) and the Institute for Advanced Study (Berlin). For 15 years from 2004 he served as convener of the Bellagio Group of academics and officials. He is a regular monthly columnist for Project Syndicate.
Professor Eichengreen has been awarded the Economic History Association’s Jonathan R.T. Hughes Prize for Excellence in Teaching and the University of California at Berkeley Social Science Division’s Distinguished Teaching Award. He is the recipient of a doctor honoris causa from the American University in Paris, and was the 2010 recipient of the Schumpeter Prize from the International Schumpeter Society and the 2022 recipient of the Nessim Habif Prize for Contributions to Science and Industry. He was named one of Foreign Policy Magazine’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2011. He is a past president of the Economic History Association (2010-11).
His most recent book is In Defense of Public Debt with Asmaa El-Ganainy, Rui Esteves and Kris Mitchener (Oxford University Press 2021)
Daniel McDowell
Daniel McDowell is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center and an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
He is a specialist on the international politics of money and finance, with a regional emphasis on the United States and China. His most recent book Bucking the Buck: US Financial Sanctions and the International Backlash Against the Dollar, published by Oxford University Press in 2023, empirically demonstrates a link between US sanctions policy and a rise in anti-dollar policies around the world. McDowell has also authored numerous peer-reviewed articles in top international relations journals. His public-facing work has appeared in Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, World Politics Review, War on the Rocks, among other outlets.
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