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Oil Currency and the Dollar Standard: A Simple Analytical Model of an International Trade Currency

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  • MICHAEL B. DEVEREUX
  • KANG SHI
  • JUANYI XU

Abstract

The U.S. dollar is the central reference currency for international trade pricing and the main invoicing currency for primary commodities. This paper links these two observations within a stylized theoretical framework, and shows how to obtain a quantitative estimate of the gain to the U.S. economy when the dollar is a reference currency. With dollar invoicing of primary commodities, U.S. firms bear less exchange rate risk than foreign firms. This asymmetry leads to a dollar standard in international goods pricing. We then derive a simple analytical formula to calculate the gains and find that they are extremely small.

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  • Michael B. Devereux & Kang Shi & Juanyi Xu, 2010. "Oil Currency and the Dollar Standard: A Simple Analytical Model of an International Trade Currency," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(4), pages 521-550, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jmoncb:v:42:y:2010:i:4:p:521-550
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1538-4616.2010.00298.x
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    3. Barry Eichengreen & Livia Chiu & Arnaud Mehl, 2016. "Network effects, homogeneous goods and international currency choice: New evidence on oil markets from an older era," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 49(1), pages 173-206, February.
    4. Michael B. Devereux & Shouyong Shi, 2013. "Vehicle Currency," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(1), pages 97-133, February.
    5. Mukhin, Dmitry, 2022. "An equilibrium model of the international price system," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112500, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Daniel Gersten Reiss, 2015. "Invoice currency: Puzzling evidence and new questions from Brazil," Economia, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics], vol. 16(2), pages 206-225.
    7. Ponomareva, Natalia & Sheen, Jeffrey & Wang, Ben, 2015. "The Common Factor of Bilateral U.S. Exchange Rates: What is it Related to?," MPRA Paper 68966, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Daniel Fried, 2023. "The U.S. Dollar as an International Currency and Its Economic Effects: Working Paper 2023-04," Working Papers 58764, Congressional Budget Office.
    9. Qin, Meng & Su, Chi-Wei & Hao, Lin-Na & Tao, Ran, 2020. "The stability of U.S. economic policy: Does it really matter for oil price?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    10. Shah, Adil Ahmad & Dar, Arif Billah, 2022. "Asymmetric, time and frequency-based spillover transmission in financial and commodity markets," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    11. Kai Liu, 2014. "Dollar Hegemony and China's Economy," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1410, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    12. Natalia Ponomareva & Jeffrey Sheen & Ben Zhe Wang, 2019. "The common component of bilateral US exchange rates: to what is it related?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1251-1268, April.
    13. Liu, Qing & Shi, Kang & Wu, Zhouheng & Xu, Juanyi, 2014. "Oil price stabilization and global welfare," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 246-260.

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