Renminbi v. USD: All the Cool Kids Obsess Over Monetary Policy

Christopher Messina & James Fok cast a pod!

You can check us out with visuals or not! Your choice:

Renminbi v. USD: All the Cool Kids Obsess Over Monetary Policy  (YouTube)

Renminbi v. USD: All the Cool Kids Obsess Over Monetary Policy  (Spotify)

China wants the world to accept the renminbi as a reserve currency. What are their reasons for suggesting an alternative to the US Dollar? Was Bretton Woods a mistake? Is Purchasing Power Parity a reasonable way to value a currency? Money is international but a currency is national; how many people care about that distinction?

Has anyone ever gotten a date by using monetary theory as a pickup line? Is the paradigm of a "cold war" drawn from the Soviet-American 20th century headbutting a useful frame to examine the actions of the Chinese government? Has the Dollar's role at the core of the international financial system been a net positive or negative for the United States?

Tune in to hear James Fok's highly informed take on these important issues and Your Enlightentaining Host’s nostalgia over the bezant.

Then go read James’s brilliant book: