The Future of Global Currency
The Euro Versus the Dollar
Can the euro challenge the supremacy of the U.S. dollar as a global
currency?
From the time Europe’s joint money was born, many have predicted that it
would soon achieve parity with the dollar or possibly even surpass it. In reality,
however, the euro has remained firmly planted in the dollar’s shadow. The essays
collected in this volume explain why. Because of America’s external deficits and looming
foreign debt, the dollar can never be as dominant as it once was. But Europe’s money is
unable to mount an effective challenge. The euro suffers from a number of critical
structural deficiencies, including an anti-growth bias that is built into the institutions
of the monetary union and an ambiguous governance structure that sows doubts among
prospective users. As recent events have demonstrated, members of the euro zone remain
vulnerable to financial crisis. Moreover, lacking a single voice, the bloc continues to
punch below its weight in monetary diplomacy. The world seems headed toward a leaderless
monetary order, with several currencies in contention but none clearly dominant.
This collection distils the views of one of the world’s leading scholars in
global currency, and will be of considerable interest to students and scholars of
international finance and international political economy.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part 1: The Global Currency System
1. Life at the Top: International Currencies in the Twenty-First Century
2. The Euro and Transatlantic Relations
Part 2: The Euro Challenge
3. EMU and the Dollar: Who Threatens Whom?
4. Global Currency Rivalry: Can The Euro Ever Challenge the Dollar?
5. Enlargement and the International Role of the Euro
6. The Euro in a Global Context: Challenges and CapacitiesDollar Dominance, Euro
Aspirations: Recipe for Discord?
7. Dollar Dominance, Euro Aspirations: Recipe for Discord?
Part 3: Glimpses of the Future
8. A One-and-a-Half Currency System
9. Toward a Leaderless Currency System
10. The International Monetary System: Diffusion and Ambiguity
200 pages, Paperback