Barry Eichengreen is a is well known author, economist, and economic historian from the University of California, Berkeley. Paul Blustein is a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal journalist who has authored several acclaimed books on global economic institutions. Brendan Greeley is a veteran journalist from the Financial Times and current PhD student at Princeton studying monetary history. They all return to the show for a special roundtable discussion where they discuss the history of dominant currencies, whether we will always end up with a single reserve currency, whether monetary sovereignty is earned or given, the question of exorbitant privilege, what there is to do about a second China Shock, the future of dollars in the digital age, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week&#x27;s episode, now with links. Recorded on May 11th, 2026 Subscribe to David&#x27;s Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Barry Eichengreen on X: @B_Eichengreen Follow Paul Blustein on X: @PaulBlustein Follow Brendan Greeley on X: @BHGreeley Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:01 - On Each Author&#x27;s Book 00:11:12 - Globally Dominant Currencies 00:25:37 - Single Reserve Currency 00:28:34 - Fed&#x27;s Control Over Global Dollar System 00:38:39 - Exorbitant Privilege 00:46:30 - China Shock 2.0 00:49:23 - Future of the Global Dollar System 00:58:16 - Outro

Barry Eichengreen, Paul Blustein, and Brendan Greeley on Dollar Dominance

Macro Musings with David Beckworth

Welcome to Macro Musings, where each week we pull back the curtain and take a closer look at the most important macroeconomic issues of the past, present, and future. I am your host, David Beckworth, a Senior Research Fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and I'm glad you decided to join us.

Today's episode is a special roundtable discussion on one of the biggest questions in international finance. Why is the dollar still the world's dominant currency, and how long can that dominance last? To help us think through this question, I'm joined by three previous podcast guests and authors of recent books that approach the question of the dollar from very different but complementary perspectives.

Our first guest is Barry Eichengreen, who recently published his book titled Money Beyond Borders, Global Currencies from Croesus to Crypto. Our second guest is Paul Blustein. His recent book is King Dollar, The Past and Future of the World's Dominant Currency. Our final and third guest is Brendan Greeley. His new book is The Almighty Dollar, 500 Years of the World's Most Powerful Money. Together, these authors and their books raise some fascinating questions.

Is the dollar's dominance primarily about American power, financial markets, institutional trust, or network effects? Is dollar dominance an exorbitant privilege or burden? And are we witnessing the beginning of a new transition to a new currency order, or just another premature obituary for King Dollar? Barry, Paul, and Brendan, welcome back to the show. Pleasure to meet with you again. Thank you. It's great to have you on, such an esteemed crew of scholars.

Barry Eichengreen, Paul Blustein, and Brendan Greeley on Dollar Dominance

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Barry Eichengreen, Paul Blustein, and Brendan Greeley on Dollar Dominance

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.