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Money Beyond Borders: Global Currencies from Croesus to Crypto
A 2,500-year history of international currencies that reveals new insights about the future of the U.S. dollar—as well as crypto and central bank digital currencies
Doubts about the international dominance of the dollar are only growing amid worries about tariffs, political dysfunction, and fraying international alliances. Will the dollar continue to reign supreme? In Money Beyond Borders, the leading authority on international currencies, Barry Eichengreen, puts the dollar’s prospects in deep historical perspective by chronicling the entire history of cross-border currencies, from the invention of coins in the seventh century BCE to the cryptocurrencies of today and the central bank digital currencies of tomorrow.
Money Beyond Borders recounts how Greek and Roman coins became the first true international currencies. It tells how the Florentine gold florin became the “greenback of the Renaissance,” and how it was succeeded by Spanish silver and a Dutch fiat currency. The book explains why the British pound dominated the international economy in the nineteenth century, why the dollar rose to the top during World War II, and why the dollar has survived predictions of the imminent loss of its preeminence since the 1970s.
The long history of international currencies shows that the same factors that encourage their widespread use eventually lead to their abandonment. Money Beyond Borders makes a powerful case that the dollar is now on the downside of this cycle, and it considers who the winners and losers will be when there is flight away from the greenback. Revealing important patterns in the life cycles of international currencies over the past 2,500 years, the book offers valuable lessons and insights about how currencies rise—and why they fall.
Doubts about the international dominance of the dollar are only growing amid worries about tariffs, political dysfunction, and fraying international alliances. Will the dollar continue to reign supreme? In Money Beyond Borders, the leading authority on international currencies, Barry Eichengreen, puts the dollar’s prospects in deep historical perspective by chronicling the entire history of cross-border currencies, from the invention of coins in the seventh century BCE to the cryptocurrencies of today and the central bank digital currencies of tomorrow.
Money Beyond Borders recounts how Greek and Roman coins became the first true international currencies. It tells how the Florentine gold florin became the “greenback of the Renaissance,” and how it was succeeded by Spanish silver and a Dutch fiat currency. The book explains why the British pound dominated the international economy in the nineteenth century, why the dollar rose to the top during World War II, and why the dollar has survived predictions of the imminent loss of its preeminence since the 1970s.
The long history of international currencies shows that the same factors that encourage their widespread use eventually lead to their abandonment. Money Beyond Borders makes a powerful case that the dollar is now on the downside of this cycle, and it considers who the winners and losers will be when there is flight away from the greenback. Revealing important patterns in the life cycles of international currencies over the past 2,500 years, the book offers valuable lessons and insights about how currencies rise—and why they fall.
344 pages, Hardcover
Published March 17, 2026
About the author
Barry Eichengreen
108 books143 followersBarry Eichengreen* is the George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1987. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (London, England). In 1997-98 he was Senior Policy Advisor at the International Monetary Fund. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (class of 1997).
Professor Eichengreen is the convener of the Bellagio Group of academics and economic officials and chair of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Peterson Institute of International Economics. He has held Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships and has been a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Palo Alto) and the Institute for Advanced Study (Berlin). He is a regular monthly columnist for Project Syndicate.
His most recent books are Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System (January 2011)(shortlisted for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2011), Emerging Giants: China and India in the World Economy, co-edited with Poonam Gupta and Ranjiv Kumar (2010), Labor in the Era of Globalization, co-edited with Clair Brown and Michael Reich (2009), Institutions for Regionalism: Enhancing Asia's Economic Cooperation and Integration, coedited with Jong-Wha Lee (2009), and Fostering Monetary & Financial Cooperation in East Asia, co-edited with Duck-Koo Chung (2009). Other books include Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System, Second Edition (2008), The European Economy since 1945: Coordinated Capitalism and Beyond (updated paperback edition, 2008), Bond Markets in Latin America: On the Verge of a Big Bang?, co-edited with Eduardo Borensztein, Kevin Cowan, and Ugo Panizza (2008), and China, Asia, and the New World Economy, co-edited with Charles Wyplosz and Yung Chul Park (2008).
Professor Eichengreen was awarded the Economic History Association's Jonathan R.T. Hughes Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2002 and the University of California at Berkeley Social Science Division's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2004. He is the recipient of a doctor honoris causa from the American University in Paris, and the 2010 recipient of the Schumpeter Prize from the International Schumpeter Society. He was named one of Foreign Policy Magazine 's 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2011. He is Immediate Past President of the Economic History Association (2010-11 academic year).
* This is the biosketch available at his faculty page.
Professor Eichengreen is the convener of the Bellagio Group of academics and economic officials and chair of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Peterson Institute of International Economics. He has held Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships and has been a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Palo Alto) and the Institute for Advanced Study (Berlin). He is a regular monthly columnist for Project Syndicate.
His most recent books are Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System (January 2011)(shortlisted for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2011), Emerging Giants: China and India in the World Economy, co-edited with Poonam Gupta and Ranjiv Kumar (2010), Labor in the Era of Globalization, co-edited with Clair Brown and Michael Reich (2009), Institutions for Regionalism: Enhancing Asia's Economic Cooperation and Integration, coedited with Jong-Wha Lee (2009), and Fostering Monetary & Financial Cooperation in East Asia, co-edited with Duck-Koo Chung (2009). Other books include Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System, Second Edition (2008), The European Economy since 1945: Coordinated Capitalism and Beyond (updated paperback edition, 2008), Bond Markets in Latin America: On the Verge of a Big Bang?, co-edited with Eduardo Borensztein, Kevin Cowan, and Ugo Panizza (2008), and China, Asia, and the New World Economy, co-edited with Charles Wyplosz and Yung Chul Park (2008).
Professor Eichengreen was awarded the Economic History Association's Jonathan R.T. Hughes Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2002 and the University of California at Berkeley Social Science Division's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2004. He is the recipient of a doctor honoris causa from the American University in Paris, and the 2010 recipient of the Schumpeter Prize from the International Schumpeter Society. He was named one of Foreign Policy Magazine 's 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2011. He is Immediate Past President of the Economic History Association (2010-11 academic year).
* This is the biosketch available at his faculty page.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 3, 2026
A chronologically ordered and ambitious study in numismatics, global trade flows, and the makings of dominant reserve currencies. This is an erudite and deeply studied work that transitions seamlessly from ancient Greek philosophy and the analysis of economies and societies principally through the lens of numismatics – in the absence of ample written records – to exceptionally detailed accounts of US monetary policy in the 1970s and 80s.
As a book to read to understand narratives around de-dollarisation and the reordering of the global fiat monetary system, it excels. It uses history as a lens to examine contemporaneous market shifts, inviting the reader in with story and keeping them engaged with the applicability of rises and falls of dominant currencies of the past to the present monetary malaise of the US.
At a brisk 242 pages it is easily consumable, and largely, although not universally, it stays on point. There are some portions of some of the earlier chapters where Eichengreen indulges a drift into the tangential. But this is sufficiently rare, and often sufficiently interesting, that he can be forgiven.
Overall, highly recommended. No particular specialist knowledge is needed to understand the majority of this book, although aspects of the 20th century monetary mechanics described – e.g., the politics of currency swap lines and IMF SDRs – will be easier for some readers than others.
As a book to read to understand narratives around de-dollarisation and the reordering of the global fiat monetary system, it excels. It uses history as a lens to examine contemporaneous market shifts, inviting the reader in with story and keeping them engaged with the applicability of rises and falls of dominant currencies of the past to the present monetary malaise of the US.
At a brisk 242 pages it is easily consumable, and largely, although not universally, it stays on point. There are some portions of some of the earlier chapters where Eichengreen indulges a drift into the tangential. But this is sufficiently rare, and often sufficiently interesting, that he can be forgiven.
Overall, highly recommended. No particular specialist knowledge is needed to understand the majority of this book, although aspects of the 20th century monetary mechanics described – e.g., the politics of currency swap lines and IMF SDRs – will be easier for some readers than others.
April 4, 2026
Barry Eichengreen entfaltet eine weitgespannte, historisch fundierte Analyse globaler Währungen – von den ersten Münzen des 7. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. bis zu Kryptowährungen und digitalen Zentralbankgeldformen. Präzise zeigt er, wie der Florentiner Goldflorin zum „Dollar der Renaissance“ avancierte und weshalb das britische Pfund im 19. Jahrhundert dominierte. Seine Diagnose der Gegenwart ist nüchtern: Die Vormachtstellung des US-Dollars steht angesichts politischer Dysfunktion und brüchiger Allianzen unter Druck. Besonders überzeugend ist Eichengreens These, dass die Erfolgsbedingungen einer Leitwährung oft schon die Keime ihres Niedergangs enthalten. Ein Schlüsseltext zum Verständnis monetärer Zyklen und geopolitischer Verschiebungen.
Eichengreens Werk ist ein faszinierendes Panorama, das eindrucksvoll belegt, dass selbst die mächtigste Weltwährung kein zeitloses Denkmal, sondern stets ein fragiles Produkt ihrer Epoche ist. Seine Warnung vor den Keimen des eigenen Niedergangs liest sich wie eine packende Mahnung an die Gegenwart, die Dollar-Dominanz nicht als unumstößliches Naturgesetz zu begreifen.
Eichengreens Werk ist ein faszinierendes Panorama, das eindrucksvoll belegt, dass selbst die mächtigste Weltwährung kein zeitloses Denkmal, sondern stets ein fragiles Produkt ihrer Epoche ist. Seine Warnung vor den Keimen des eigenen Niedergangs liest sich wie eine packende Mahnung an die Gegenwart, die Dollar-Dominanz nicht als unumstößliches Naturgesetz zu begreifen.
May 18, 2026
The Regulator Bookshop seduces me when I am shopping for groceries, so I am making slow progress through this book interspersed with other things. So far I understand the origins of credit and liquidity. Dutch banks facilitated phenomenal liquidity before they were ousted by the English, who were fine until a flood of gold from South America devalued gold and made all the silver (used for moderate purchases) flee to China. China was particularly fond of silver. At this point I hit some difficulty in understanding England’s trials and tribulations, and may have to resort to Wikipedia. Obviously I bought the book with all $32 of my personal money because I want to understand crypto. So far a repeated point Eichengreen makes is that cities lost dominance when their bankers moved to put most of their energies into currency speculation and did not shore up actual manufacture and trade, which England, evidently, did not do. As I say, I am not cheating by skipping to the end, so I am maybe a quarter of the way through. The book has a massive bibliography in not too recent books rather than articles. I approve of this on principle, because I don’t have a graduate student’s library access, even though I will probably not pursue them. It’s the kind of subject material, too, which since it is historical doesn’t really need wildly recent references. The footnotes are good too.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews