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This goes out to all the econ-heads and finan-cels: what is the canonical work breaking down the dollar's role in our current world-economy? Preferrably post-2008. I feel like this is referenced everywhere but I still don't feel like I get it completely lol.
Weirdly enough, I just learned that a new book on this exact topic is coming out in May. It was plugged on Marginal Revolution (https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/03/what-should-i-ask-ken-rogoff.html). Here is the pre-order Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Our-Dollar-Your-Problem-Turbulent/dp/0300275315?crid=22W9PARM3ZKRV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.dkKHSrZv98NlMuvTxaMhLyKOPcqyjBXknZC6Zy7TmYjOcRTPj5molQ0oQOzb369QlVw6LUbiuBvWz2PLJcEzCcRpVDeis4KM4ctlbN5FsjSlIguNV1mvBJMYDQyky7bM0PX-7rsaWMBhZVVt89zU9Xluja9N2jBAcZu6B_d407MqsAQic1_de6ff93N8-CwiOVQ91QAD5431G2CpwQ9CYTVjxg6Q6thLmCGT4nq0Z5M.2aLJRvV1WlbRIm4uv-OZloEcBwlO6Kk9-9LOBNzdC7Q&dib_tag=se&keywords=kenneth+rogoff&qid=1742740702&sprefix=kenneth+rogoff%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-1
wonderful, thank you for sharing this! I really appreciate you getting back to this thread. I haven’t heard of MR either, so I’m doubly grateful!
The Dollar Crisis by Richard Duncan is the book my professor gave me in college to explain the international system of payments. It's pre-2008 though and very boring. The best book I've read on international economics and intersection international politics is Robert Brenner's The Economics of Global Turbulence, but it's a very difficult read for the uninitiated. The Making of Global Capitalism is an unapologetic left wing take on the Post-WII international economic order written by some non-economists, which makes it more readable.
I'm not an expert on this, but my first point of advice for anything econ related is always: read something very boring, like a textbook. Or take an online course. It is my understanding that in economics there are few "canonical" books. (History of economic thought being the major exception). There are literatures made up of papers and textbooks that summarize these literatures. It is not like studying literature or philosophy. It is more like studying physics. I'm not saying that economics is as scientific as physics, just that to learn physics you pick up a textbook, not Newton's *Principia*. For now academic works on the dollar's role as global reserve currency are probably too advanced and inside-baseball to be comprehensible if you have a non-econ background, and popular books probably contain too many over-simplifications. If you want something to read, Greg Mankiw is quite representative of orthodox economic thinking, and in his *Macroeconomics* book you can learn about the basic theories behind international capital flows, saving and investment, exchange rates, and the effects of monetary, fiscal, and trade policy. With this background, you will have a basic lay of the land and can branch off into more specialized topics. If you'd rather watch videos/take an online course, Marginal Revolution University is good (https://mru.org/learn). It has classes on basic micro/macro, as well as courses on international trade and international finance. I can't speak to the quality of all of them, but the ones I've watched have been good. Of course, if you are looking for history books on *how *the dollar became the dominant global reserve currency, that is a different question.
Thanks for your reply. I think what I'm interested in in particular is how the United States apparently uses the dollarised financial system to keep itself afloat despite its immense trade deficit. I've heard this repeated books and discussions of finance and economics, often in relation to the abandoning of the gold standard. I feel like I understand this concept but I'm not yet comfortable walking through it scientifically. The reason I'm interested in this is that I've been through an economics BSc and I've worked through most of what neoclassical economics has to offer, at least on that level, which is the scientific part, as you've mentioned. I think you're right and I should have formulated my question differntly, I'm more interested in books that explain economic phenomena and concepts through a historical lens, especially if they attempt to explain the current status quo. There's a lot of ink spilled and computer memory spent on regurgitated discussions skewed towards how the markets and economics work *ideally*, instead of how they work currently, so I'm very open to any recommendations of books or academic work going in a different direction.
I've read Monbiot's book on neoliberalism and Varoufakis' technofeudalism book and I could also reread them but I'm rather looking for something adjacent in hopes of finding answers to my questions.
I hadn't read either of these comments before posting above. You should definitely read Brenner, his introduction to the Spanish Edition "What's good for Goldman Sachs is good for America" was written in direct response to the financial crisis. It's definitely worth checking out too.
Thanks! I'll leave this reply here in hopes of holding myself accountable for writing a review as well.
Nice detailed reply. I guess my comment didn't really address your question if you did econ in undergrad. Keeping this thread saved in case anyone finds a good book on this topic!
First: Simple Answer King Dollar: The Past and Future of the World's Dominant Currency Fun and Rabbit Holes: I am not trying to push crypto at all in saying this but I have noticed that Bitcoin maxis tend to dive really deep into currency history, usually to pave the way for their positioning on BTC, so take it with a grain of salt. That said, The bitcoin standard by Saifedean Ammous has a long primer on currency that is very compact, going as far back as seashells. If you're interested in money and its characteristics and use cases this work is really quite fun and you will have some strong answers when relatives ask you "So how is Bitcoins Money!" To answer some of your more head scratching questions about the actual manipulation used to "Float" the US you should dig more into the Federal Reserve than the dollar itself. I am of the belief priming on this is extremely important to understanding why 2008 happened. How could it have happened? Research in fractional reserve banking and the departure from the gold standard a-la "WTF Happened in 1971!" will make the mysteries of monetary policy easier to understand. A fun one is "The Creature From Jekyll Island" and of course the seminal "End The Fed". Again, I am not pushing this belief system in a random comment section this is just fun stuff if you really are an Econ Head.
Thank you, this is quite insightful! Also am I seeing it correctly that the first book you recommended was published a little more than a week ago? Seems like there's a lot of renewed interest around this, great catch!