Publication

In this paper, the author discusses the historically unprecedented rise of the renminbi toward reserve currency status and the possible motivations of China in pursuing such a strategy. The twentieth century saw the rise of the US dollar, the German mark, and the Japanese yen as international currencies. Now the Chinese renminbi is on a similar course toward reserve currency status, but its path is deviating from those of its predecessors in both aim and intent. The authors conclude that nationalist sentiment did not play a role in any of the three previous cases.