Thought this was an interesting analysis, though I think it needs to be taken with a bit of a grain of salt (I think it’s power is what is qualitatively describes rather than precise numbers, and I think the author might even agree with me).

I’m always on the lookout to see it quantified how much the average American benefits from imperialism. My guy says if the US was unable to exert hegemony, the US would experience at least what Russia experienced in the 90s. These numbers align with that; and this is only talking about dollar hegemony and not, for example, the US using military pressure, sanctions, or other methods for extracting cheaper resources and goods from the global south.

That said, I’m not sure you can just run a regression and get your answer. I don’t see how you can isolate the US losing dollar hegemony without it then creating an uncountable number of secondary effects. All this stuff is deeply interconnected. But that said, I think this does a good job of highlighted at least in a qualitative sense just how much Americans benefit from dollar hegemony, and how losing that would be huge problem for the US economy.

  • panned_cakes [none/use name]
    ·
    8 months ago

    What happens when the only people recycling dollars and sending their profits to the US are moribund in Japan and the EU?

    Samir Amin translucent, superimposed over these words, laughing

    Definitely a different kind of speculation than I get into, but my speculation is always an afterthought as I'm catching up on history anyways. I'll reply later if I can staple my ideas together after work.