Our Dollar, Your Problem

An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead

By: Kenneth Rogoff

Narrated by: Evan Sibley

A leading economist explores the global rise of the US dollar and shows why its future stability is far from assured.

Our Dollar, Your Problem argues that America’s currency might not have reached today’s lofty pinnacle without a certain amount of good luck.

Drawing in part on his own experiences, including with policymakers and world leaders, Kenneth Rogoff animates the remarkable postwar run of the dollar—how it beat out the Japanese yen, the Soviet ruble, and the euro—and the challenges it faces today from crypto and the Chinese yuan, the end of reliably low inflation and interest rates, political instability, and the fracturing of the dollar bloc.

Americans cannot take for granted that the Pax Dollar era will last indefinitely, not only because many countries are deeply frustrated with the system but also because overconfidence and arrogance can lead to unforced errors. Rogoff shows how America’s outsized power and exorbitant privilege can spur financial instability—not just abroad but also at home.

Included is a bonus PDF with charts and graphs.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 Kenneth Rogoff (P)2025 Blackstone Publishing

Interesting, Well Written

One listen is sufficient to elicit the main arguments of the book. The main argument is that historically a country’s financial health mainly has determined the strength of its currency. The risk to the long term continued dominance of the dollar according Professor Rogoff is the US’ large and increasing ratio of the debt to GDP. He sees more benefits than costs to the dollar’s dominance.

Solid overview of recent financial history and link to global foreign exchange events.

Leading macroeconomist overview of global financial system for non-economists. Technical subject matter summarized in largely non-technical language. Thought provoking.

Learn a lot.

I am not very familiar with currency or institution monitoring currency. I listened carefully and learned a lot. I will need to read the book and review certain sections in detail. Great start for my education!

Excellent Analysis

Excellent broad overview of international economics and money. It includes both historical and current analysis by a highly qualified expert.

Finance prof review

Superb exposition, well reasoned, the author spent a little too much time on Russia, which never had a chance of overtaking the dollar given its institutional development and a bit too much on chess analogies, but overall a great read with important material that I wish everyone could learn.