Th world dollar standard greatly facilitates international exchange. Since the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1945, the dollar has been the key currency for clearing international payments among banks, including government interventions to set exchange rates. IT is the dominant currency for invoicing trade in primary commodities and official exchange reserves.

This book renews the Marxian theory of the general equivalent by highlighting the contradiction between the social functions of money (unit of account, means of circulation) and its private functions (store of value, accumulation). It draws a clear distinction between the monetary base and the commodity base of money and thus avoids the confusion between money and credit on the one hand, and money and capital on the other, which are found in other heterodox monetary theories. It accounts for the new forms of monetary constraints weighing on the banking systems under and inconvertible fiat money standard, the class relationships underlying the interventions of monetary authorities and governments, and presents a definition of the state which emphasises its mode of intervention on the collective and social conditions of capitalisms which are money and labour power. The emphasis on the contradiction between these two types of monetary functions gives a more fundamental account of the conflict between the international role and the national origin of the dollar than the Triffin dilemma, which has been constantly overcome or deferred by the US since 1960. The author explains this evolution by demonstrating how, from the 1950s onwards, the dollar began a process of acquiring relative autonomy from the US economy. By focusing on the role and international functions of the dollar, he offers a fresh look at the 2008 crisis and its consequences for the international monetary system, but also for a possible post-capitalist financial system – which post-revolutionary Russia experimented with in the form of the NEP, and whose contemporary implementation is foreshadowed by the rise of digital central bank currencies. The book thereby provides a necessary update to the tools and concepts inherited from Marx for analysing and understanding money, capital and the state.

The two most topical issues in current financial markets deal with the causes of the recent financial crisis and the means to prevent future crises. This book addresses the latter and stresses a major shift in most countries toward a better understanding of financial stability and how it can be achieved. In particular, the papers in this volume examine the recent change in emphasis at central banks with regard to financial stability. For example: What were the cross-country differences in emphasis on financial stability in the past Did these differences appear to affect the extent of the adverse impact of the financial crisis on individual countries What are perceived to be the major future threats to financial stability These and related issues are discussed in the book by well-known experts in the field OCo some of the best minds in the world pursuing financial stability. Following the global financial crisis, significant reforms have been initiated in many countries to address financial stability more directly, frequently focusing on macroprudential policy frameworks in which central banks play a more active role."

This book analyses how financial elites in key dollar-holding emerging markets perceive the contest between the euro and the dollar for global currency status. It also assesses how far the Eurozone has gone in challenging US hegemony in monetary affairs through the prism of these elites. Drawing on Chartalist and Constructivist theories of money, the author provides a systematic approach to studying global currency dynamics and presents extensive original empirical data on financial elites in China, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Brazil. The author demonstrates, amongst other things, how the gradual ascendance of a structurally flawed currency like the euro has highlighted the weaknesses of the dollar ad how the euro has demonstrated that sovereignty sharing in monetary affairs is possible and that the international monetary system can be a multicurrency and multilateral system. In this highly innovative and important book, Otero-Iglesias shows the importance of studying financial elites in Brazil, China and the GCC countries in order to understand the full impact, material and ideational, of the euro in the transformation of the IMS. It will be vital reading for students and scholars of International Political Economy, International Economics, International Finance, Economic History, Economic Sociology, International Relations, Comparative Political Economy and Comparative Politics.

A penetrating account of how unchecked capital mobility is damaging international cooperation, polarizing the economic landscape, and ultimately reshaping the global order "An expert on global financial and monetary systems . . . lucidly describes the failings of the international monetary 'non-system' that emerged after the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the 1970s."--Martin Wolf, Financial Times "Best Books of 2020: Economics" When it comes to the afflictions of the global economy, almost everyone--and especially Donald Trump--is quick to point the finger of blame at the state of international trade. But what about unconstrained capital flows? Unfettered capital has resulted in a string of financial and economic crises that have left our political systems strained and dialogue corroded. The once perceived benefits of openness have been cast to the wayside and the cracks in the global order can no longer be ignored. Paola Subacchi argues that international cooperation and interdependence have become crippled. Regional restrictions will soon strengthen and a multipolar order will take shape, leading to a distinctly transformed economic landscape in which China challenges the dominance of the US dollar. Combining history, analysis, and prediction, this book provides penetrating insight into the challenges facing the international economic order.

Why the dollar is—and will remain—the dominant global currency The U.S. dollar's dominance seems under threat. The near collapse of the U.S. financial system in 2008–2009, political paralysis that has blocked effective policymaking, and emerging competitors such as the Chinese renminbi have heightened speculation about the dollar’s looming displacement as the main reserve currency. Yet, as The Dollar Trap powerfully argues, the financial crisis, a dysfunctional international monetary system, and U.S. policies have paradoxically strengthened the dollar’s importance. Eswar Prasad examines how the dollar came to have a central role in the world economy and demonstrates that it will remain the cornerstone of global finance for the foreseeable future. Marshaling a range of arguments and data, and drawing on the latest research, Prasad shows why it will be difficult to dislodge the dollar-centric system. With vast amounts of foreign financial capital locked up in dollar assets, including U.S. government securities, other countries now have a strong incentive to prevent a dollar crash. Prasad takes the reader through key contemporary issues in international finance—including the growing economic influence of emerging markets, the currency wars, the complexities of the China-U.S. relationship, and the role of institutions like the International Monetary Fund—and offers new ideas for fixing the flawed monetary system. Readers are also given a rare look into some of the intrigue and backdoor scheming in the corridors of international finance. The Dollar Trap offers a panoramic analysis of the fragile state of global finance and makes a compelling case that, despite all its flaws, the dollar will remain the ultimate safe-haven currency.

This book is about power in a changing world economy. Though power is ubiquitous in the study of International Political Economy, the concept is underdeveloped in formal theoretical terms. This collection of essays analyses recent experience in East Asia to advance our theoretic understanding of state power in IPE. Over the last quarter century, no other region of the world has had a greater impact on the global distribution of economic resources and capabilities. China, with its "peaceful rise," now stands as the second largest national economy on the face of the earth; South Korea and Taiwan have become industrial powerhouses; Hong Kong and Singapore are among the world’s most important financial centres; and new poles of growth have emerged in several southeast Asian countries – all while Japan, long the region’s dominant market, has slipped into seemingly irreversible decline. The volume’s nine essays, contributed by leading scholars in the United States, Britain and Taiwan, aim to extract relevant inferences and insights from these developments for the study of state power. All are framed by a core agenda encompassing four key clusters of questions concerning the meaning, sources, uses, and limits of power. These essays ask: What new lessons are offered for power analysis in International Political Economy?