How the US dollar has survived everything from Nixon to the Taliban
Fifty years after the end of Bretton Woods, the floating greenback has remained the world’s dominant currency for far longer than most experts expected.
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the end the Bretton Woods system, when US president Richard Nixon suspended the US dollar’s convertibility into gold and allowed it to float.
We are also approaching the 20th anniversary of the Taliban’s removal from power in Afghanistan by US-led coalition forces. Now that the Taliban have again prevailed, we should consider whether their victory over the world’s most powerful military and largest economy will have any implications for the dollar and its role in the world.
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Project Syndicate
Jim O’Neill was chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and former commercial secretary to the UK Treasury.
