## A Chronicle of Currencies

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**Canonical URL:** [A Chronicle of Currencies](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2026/03/books-schenk.pdf)

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### Overview
- Book reviewed: MONEY BEYOND BORDERS: Global Currencies from Croesus to Crypto by Barry Eichengreen.
- Reviewer: Catherine R. Schenk, professor of economic and social history at the University of Oxford.
- Publication details in source: Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2026, 344 pp. $29.95.
- Scope: Long historical sweep from origins of Roman currency to present-day geopolitical disruption; accessible to a generalist audience while synthesizing classical economic history and 18th century financial history (notably Amsterdam).

### Historical arguments and context
- Since 1960, the US dollar has been central to global commerce and finance due to deep and liquid markets and near universal acceptance as a means of exchange and unit of account.
- Predictions of the dollar’s demise have a long history:
  - 1960s and 1970s: inflation threatened the dollar’s usefulness.
  - Mid-2000s: sustained dollar depreciation, China’s liberalization, and the launch of the euro sparked successor speculation.
  - 2008 global financial crisis: confirmed resilience of the currency hierarchy.
- Eichengreen reaches back to the origins of Roman currency and uses cycles of history, including the 1930s and 18th century Amsterdam, to draw lessons for the present.

### Core thesis on dollar dominance
- Eichengreen argues that it is the absence of an alternative currency that has sustained dollar dominance so far.
- He is a leading proponent of the feasibility and sustainability of a multipolar currency system and warns that the 1930s are a stark warning against deglobalization.

### Potential challengers and forces that could upend the dollar
- Factors that may erode dollar dominance:
  - US retreat from commitment to open markets.
  - Internationalization of the renminbi.
  - Evolution of the euro.
  - Fintech innovation, including the possibility of a viable stablecoin not tethered only to the dollar.
- Eichengreen’s assessment in the book: “none of these alternatives is ready for prime time.”

### Risks, scenarios, and possible outcomes
- The review highlights heightened geopolitical ruction since the book was written, which increases the likelihood of outcomes Eichengreen considers.
- Conditional scenarios where change could occur:
  - If EU members pull together more closely.
  - If US friction with China heats up.
  - If fintech develops a viable non-dollar stablecoin.
- Potential macrofinancial risk: a shock to liquidity from a change in the currency hierarchy could provoke a version of the 1930s Great Depression; the book repeats this warning.

### Notable episodes and readable elements
- Chapters on the 20th century align with Eichengreen’s earlier work; revisiting cycles of history is emphasized as valuable.
- Anecdotal and timely example: US President Richard Nixon’s confrontation with the chair of the Federal Reserve in the 1970s is singled out as particularly timely reading.

*Source: Review of MONEY BEYOND BORDERS by Barry Eichengreen, F&D, March 2026.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2026/03/books-schenk.pdf_