
Money Beyond Borders
Global Currencies from Croesus to Crypto
Barry Eichengreen(Author)
Princeton University Press
Published on 17. March 2026
Book
Hardback
344 pages
978-0-691-28053-0 (ISBN)
Description
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.
Reviews / Votes
"A learned and highly readable history of the making and breaking of international currencies. . . . a fine book."---Brett Christophers, Financial Times "Accessible to a generalist audience, the book aims to elicit policy lessons from a long sweep of history. The author synthesizes a growing body of literature on classical economic history as well as the considerable research on 18th century financial history, notably that of Amsterdam. The chapters on the 20th century will be familiar to readers of Eichengreen's other research on this era, but the cycles of history are worth revisiting. US President Richard Nixon's confrontation with the chair of the Federal Reserve in the 1970s makes for particularly timely reading."---Catherine Schenk, F&D Magazine "The international economy relies on the U.S. dollar. . . . As this sweeping history points out, however, the greenback is only the latest in a centuries-long series of global currencies, including the Dutch guilder and the British pound sterling, whose statures have risen and fallen with the fortunes of their issuers. For now, Eichengreen argues, none of the dollar's would-be challengers, from the renminbi to digital alternatives such as stablecoins, have what it takes to supplant it. But, as America's debts pile up and its relative wealth and power decline, the dollar's appeal may fade." * New Yorker * "In this powerful work covering 2,500 years of international currencies, Barry Eichengreen shows the financial and geopolitical factors shaping reserve currency status. . . . Eichengreen's brilliant and sober assessment is essential reading for those seeking better alternative futures for the 21st century."---Thomas Reifer, Global Policy "Is the US dollar doomed to lose its status as the global reserve currency? Barry Eichengreen has set out to answer this question in the latest of his impressive exercises in showing the relevance of economic history to current policy debates. . . . Eichengreen doesn't predict the imminent displacement of the dollar as the international currency, but he notes the coalescence of a series of long- and short-term factors that are likely to result in its diminished stature in future."---Michael Taylor, Central Banking "A profoundly transformative read that changes how we perceive money, banking, and the financial system's role in society." * Acemaxx-Analytics Newsletter * "[Eichengreen is] the rare economist who arrives at the question of money with two graduate degrees from Yale, one in economics and one in history. The combination is not biographical color. It is the source of the argument. . . . His new book, Money Beyond Borders: Global Currencies from Croesus to Crypto, published by Princeton University Press in March, is the synthesis. Twenty-five hundred years of international currencies, from Lydian electrum coinage of the seventh century BCE through Florentine florins and Spanish silver to the British pound, the U.S. dollar, and the digital currencies now arriving on private blockchains. The argument is direct. The same forces that lift a currency to global dominance eventually set the stage for its erosion. The dollar is not exempt. Eichengreen places it on the downside of the cycle." * ACI Worldwide Blog *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 165 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
718 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-28053-0 (9780691280530)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
03/2026
United Methodist Publishing House
€28.99
Available for download
Person
Barry Eichengreen is the George C. and Helen N. Pardee Chair and Distinguished Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author and coauthor of many books, including Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System; How Global Currencies Work (Princeton); and Globalizing Capital (Princeton).