The future of the US dollar: Are its days as the world’s dominant currency numbered?

For decades, defying predictions of its demise, the U.S. dollar has been the world’s dominant currency. Nearly 60% of the world’s foreign exchange reserves are in dollars, but that share has been falling gradually, and the evolution of markets and technology have weakened the dollar’s market share in global payments. Is the U.S. dollar’s primacy at risk? Will the rise of central bank digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, and other innovations quicken the dollar’s decline? Will U.S. sanctions on Russia’s reserves lead other countries to put their reserves in other currencies? And, importantly, what might be the macroeconomic impact on the U.S. if the dollar were to lose substantial market share?

On Tuesday, June 7, the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy hosted a virtual event to explore these questions with several experts: Kathryn Dominguez (University of Michigan), Barry Eichengreen (UC Berkeley), Don Kohn (Brookings), Zach Pandl (Goldman Sachs), and Eswar Prasad (Brookings).

Viewers followed along with the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #FutureofDollar, and submitted questions for the panelists at sli.do, using code #FutureofDollar.