Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System Review

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Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System ReviewAs other reviewers have noted, the first half of this book is a history of US currency in international transactions. While important, this material is necessarily dull. The author does an excellent job of making it no duller than it has to be. He does not leave out the important minutiae of trade acceptances and special drawing rights, but he explains them clearly and without jargon; without droning on beyond the needs of the history. The author has an extremely dry sense of humor, easy to miss but worth catching, and works in enough amusing detail to keep you awake.
Compared to the conventional story, this book presents a generally negative picture of currency management, especially in Europe and doubly especially in the UK. The US makes its share of mistakes in the book, but fewer than other countries. That plus two world wars propelled the dollar to international prominence. The careful parsing of history also reveals that currency hegemony is more fragile than commonly thought, it is largely coincidence that we have had only two dominant world currencies, sterling and dollar, over nearly 200 years.
Over the last 20 years fiscal mismanagement and financial crisis threaten the dollar's global role, and other countries have made successful innovations. But the dollar's relative advantages remain strong, which should at least make one of the major international currency if we don't screw things up too much. However no currency is likely to dominate the way the pound did in the 19th century or the dollar did in the 20th.
On the downside, the book has a narrow focus. Financial markets are absent from the story, except when they are causing trouble. The author's analysis of those troubles seems pulled from a few fulminating editorials, in contrast to the careful research on monetary topics (supported by excellent notes and references). Trade flows and import/export considerations are emphasized while the much larger financial flows get scant treatment (and, again, only when the cause trouble). There is no deep treatment of banks, we see them only as lobbyists for monetary affairs. It's hard to believe you can describe money without some discussion of banks and finance.
My other criticism is I found the predictions based to be based entirely on history. While history can teach us a lot, the world has also changed in important respects. Can we really turn back the clock in a global financial system with an Internet? Maybe the answer is "yes," but you won't find convincing arguments in this book.
Overall, I recommend this book highly for people who are already knowledgeable about finance and financial history. You will learn a lot. I have only a qualified recommendation for others. You will also learn a lot, but I think the knowledge will be unbalanced, and the conclusions possibly misleading.Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System Overview

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