The global struggle to replace the dollar
Mount Holyoke assistant professor Christopher Mitchell talked to Forbes about the desire to replace the U.S. dollar as the world鈥檚 reserve currency.
In the wake of global sanctions, Russia鈥檚 central bank recently moved to fix the price of 5,000 rubles to a gram of gold. Then, its finance ministry announced that payments for oil, natural gas and other significant Russian exports would be required to be in rubles, rather than the U.S. dollar.
Christopher Mitchell, assistant professor of politics and international relations at Mount Holyoke, said in an article about Russia鈥檚 move to gold that the desire to supplant the U.S. dollar as the world鈥檚 reserve currency is not new.
鈥淗istorically the European Union wanted to do this,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a global sense that the euro isn鈥檛 ready for that role until the EU supports it with a fiscal and political union. As long as they have these existential questions even as Europeans want to make a bid for it, there are too many questions about the EU and the Eurozone.鈥
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