Faculty Research Forum: Greenback Empire with Ho-fung Hung

Professor Ho-fung Hung presents his new book, Greenback Empire: Global Dollar Dominance and the New Cold War, in conversation with Professors Ling Chen and David Steinberg, with an introduction by Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs Peter M. Lewis.

A critical history of the US dollar’s dominance in the world economy—and what has kept China’s currency from overtaking it.

The dollar is the primary currency of the world economy. With China now rivaling the United States on the world stage, a critical question hangs in the balance: will the Chinese renminbi challenge the status of the dollar and, in doing so, deprive America of its “exorbitant privilege”?

In Greenback Empire, Ho-fung Hung offers a powerful account of why, even as American shares of global production, ownership, and trade continue to decline, its currency has retained the support of governments and investors around the world. For six decades, Hung shows, the dominance of the dollar has rested on the security umbrella that the US offers to the world’s wealthiest countries—including oil producers. To these countries, support for the value of the dollar is tantamount to maintaining US protection. While China has become a serious geopolitical and economic rival to the US, the Chinese state’s airtight control of its financial system has delayed the free trading of the renminbi, limiting the currency’s internationalization. In short, the same strategy that engineered growth in China’s economy is restraining its currency’s rise in opposition to the dollar. Hung’s Greenback Empire is an essential history of the dollar’s prowess, indispensable for understanding the future of the global monetary system.

Ho-fung Hung is the Henry M. and Elizabeth P. Wiesenfeld Professor in Political Economy in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and in the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of City on the Edge: Hong Kong under Chinese Rule, Clash of Empires: From “Chimerica” to the “New Cold War” and The China Boom: Why China Will Not Rule the World.

Ling Chen is William L. Clayton Chair and Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She was a Wilson China Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a PIP fellow and member of the National Committee on US-China Relations. She was also a Non-resident Associate in the Fairbank Center at Harvard University.

David A. Steinberg is the Robert E. Osgood Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. His research focuses on International Political Economy. He teaches courses on political economy and research methods, and he was awarded the Max M. Fisher Prize for Teaching Excellence in 2017.

Peter Lewis is the Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and Warren Weinstein Chair of African Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Lewis, who served as SAIS Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs from 2015 to 2018, has directed the school's Africa Studies program since joining Johns Hopkins SAIS in 2006.

A light lunch will be provided.