Monetary rivalry is a fact of life in the world economy. Intense competition between international currencies like the US dollar, Europe's euro, and the Chinese yuan is profoundly political, going to the heart of the global balance of power. But what exactly is the relationship between currency and power, and what does it portend for the geopolitic

List of Tables and Figures ix Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations and Acronyms xiii Introduction 1 1 International Currency 8 2 Power Analysis 28 3 Monetary Power 48 4 From Currency to Power 77 5 From Power to Currency 102 6 Currency Competition Today (with Tabitha M. Benney) 135 7 The Dollar: Power Undiminished 160 8 The Euro: Power Unrealized 185 9 The Yuan: Power Unstoppable? 214 10 Summing Up 237 Notes 245 References 257 Index 275

"The ideas are clearly explained and speak directly to a broad spectrum of the existing international political economy literature."--Choice "This analytic complexity makes Currency Power an important contribution to our understanding of financial statecraft. This is not only the first comprehensive treatment of currency power, it is likely to remain the best such treatment for years to come. As such, the book is necessary reading for everyone interested in whether the dollar will remain at the top of the global currency pyramid as well as why retaining that status matters."--Thomas Oatley, Cambridge Review of International Affairs

"It is widely believed that we are moving away from a dollar-dominated global monetary system, just as we are moving away from a US-dominated global economy. But the consequences—for economics, finance, and geopolitics—remain unclear. No one is better qualified than Benjamin Cohen, the dean of international political economists, to make sense of these issues. In Currency Power, he succeeds in doing just that."—Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley "Benjamin Cohen conceptualizes currency power as the capacity to avoid adjustment costs, either by delay or deflection—shifting these costs onto others. Read this book for its brilliant examination of currency power and get Cohen's contemporary analysis as a bonus."—Robert O. Keohane, Princeton University"Benjamin Cohen, one of the world's foremost experts in the field and mentor to generations of accomplished scholars, draws effortlessly on a half century of expertise and experience with characteristic clarity. Comprehensive, yet nimble and distinctly argued, Currency Power is the go-to book for an overview of the vital and consequential politics of international money."—Jonathan Kirshner, author of American Power after the Financial Crisis"In Currency Power, Benjamin Cohen addresses the potential for other currencies to rival the US dollar's dominant position in the international monetary system. Cohen has spent a career exploring the politics of international monetary relations and he knows the literature inside and out. The culmination of a life's work, this is the best book on the topic available."—J. Lawrence Broz, University of California, San Diego"Currency Power promises to solidify Benjamin Cohen's reputation as the foundational author of what we know about currencies and their cross-border use. This is a tour de force on global monetary power and the world's currency system. It will sharpen the debate and have a lasting impact on the international political economy field for decades to come."—Carla Norrlof, University of Toronto