Introduction: the making of a dominant currenty
Part I: past challengers to dollar dominance
The single currency in Europe
Part II: China, the present-day challenger
Zhu Rongji's uncanny forecasts
The People's Bank of China
The inevitability of dollar decoupling
Part III: everyone else's problem: living with the dollar
The lure of fixed exchange rates
When exchange rate pegs outlive their shelf life
Lebanon and Argentina: unique or prototypical?
Fixed exchange rates redux
Part IV: alternative currencies
Cryptocurrencies and the future of money
Central bank digital currencies
Part V: the perks and burdens of being the dominant currency
Perks of currency dominance
Exorbitant privilege or taxation without representation?
Small ways the United States helps countries deal with dollar dominance
Cost of being a dominant currenty
Part VI: peak dollar dominance
Central bank independence: the bulwark of currency dominance
Debtor's empire: the United States' Achilles' heel
The siren call of "lower forever" interest rates
The end of the pax dollar era?
