A powerful new understanding of global currency trends, including the rise of the Chinese yuanAt first glance, the history of the modern global economy seems to support the long-held view that the currency of the world's leading power invariably dominates international trade and finance. But in How Global Currencies Work, three noted economists

At first glance, the modern history of the global economic system seems to support the long-held view that the leading world power's currency--the British pound, the U.S. dollar, and perhaps someday the Chinese yuan--invariably dominates international trade and finance. In How Global Currencies Work, three noted economists provide a reassessment of this history and the theories behind the conventional wisdom. Offering a new history of global finance over the past two centuries, and marshaling extensive new data to test established theories of how global currencies work, Barry Eichengreen, Arnaud Mehl, and Livia Chit¿u argue for a new view, in which several national monies can share international currency status, and their importance can change rapidly. They demonstrate how changes in technology and in the structure of international trade and finance have reshaped the landscape of international currencies so that several international financial standards can coexist. They show that multiple international and reserve currencies have in fact coexisted in the past--upending the traditional view of the British pound's dominance prior to 1945 and the U.S. dollar's dominance more recently.

"An excellent introduction to the history of international reserve currencies over the past two centuries. . . . [C]ompulsory reading."-Richard Parlour, Central Banking Journal