Snehesh Alex Philip, Deputy Editor, heads the defence, strategic and foreign affairs vertical. He joined ThePrint in January 2019. Snehesh can be reached at snehesh.philip@theprint.in
The United States enjoys seigniorage of a stratospheric kind when the whole world uses the dollar as a unit of account, far beyond the normal privilege each central bank does when people accept coloured pieces of paper issued by it as a store of value. By acting with caprice on the issue of sanctions, it will strengthen a trend already underway for other currencies to take up part of the responsibility. Japan’s economy has been stagnant for two decades, the Euro has passed through harrowing times, the Chinese yuan is tightly controlled by the government. Over time, these constraints will be addressed.
The United States enjoys seigniorage of a stratospheric kind when the whole world uses the dollar as a unit of account, far beyond the normal privilege each central bank does when people accept coloured pieces of paper issued by it as a store of value. By acting with caprice on the issue of sanctions, it will strengthen a trend already underway for other currencies to take up part of the responsibility. Japan’s economy has been stagnant for two decades, the Euro has passed through harrowing times, the Chinese yuan is tightly controlled by the government. Over time, these constraints will be addressed.