Our Dollar, Your Problem

A leading economist explores the global rise of the U.S. dollar and shows why its future stability is far from assured

Our Dollar, Your Problem argues that America’s currency might not have reached today’s lofty pinnacle without a certain amount of good luck. Drawing in part on his own experiences, including with policymakers and world leaders, Kenneth Rogoff animates the remarkable postwar run of the dollar—how it beat out the Japanese yen, the Soviet ruble, and the euro—and the challenges it faces today from crypto and the Chinese yuan, the end of reliably low inflation and interest rates, political instability, and the fracturing of the dollar bloc. Americans cannot take for granted that the Pax Dollar era will last indefinitely, not only because many countries are deeply frustrated with the system, but also because overconfidence and arrogance can lead to unforced errors. Rogoff shows how America’s outsized power and exorbitant privilege can spur financial instability—not just abroad but also at home.

Kenneth Rogoff is Maurits C. Boas Professor of Economics at Harvard University and former International Monetary Fund chief economist. One of the world’s foremost observers on the global economy, he is coauthor of the New York Times bestselling This Time Is Different.