The pen may be mightier than the sword — but the dollar beats them both. Economic leverage has long shaped the world order, and today global powers use financial networks, trade policies, and sanctions as tools of persuasion — or coercion. 

In this episode, Matteo Maggiori, the Moghadam Family Professor of Finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business, outlines why he believes the U.S. dollar remains the world’s financial backbone, why China wants to create an alternative, and how global financial networks serve as both tools of economic statecraft and sources of financial instability in an increasingly multipolar world.

This episode features Paula Findlen, the Ubaldo Pierotti Professor of History at Stanford University. 

How do you feel about a future where the buck no longer stops with the U.S.?? Email us at ifthenpod@stanford.edu. 

This conversation was recorded on September 5, 2024.

Related Content:

• Matteo Maggiori faculty profile
• “Geoeconomics” Explains How Countries Flex Their Financial Muscles
• Quick Study: China’s Plan to Challenge the Dollar
• Inside China’s Long March Toward Challenging the Dollar

If/Then is a podcast from Stanford Graduate School of Business that examines research findings that can help us navigate the complex issues we face in business, leadership, and society. Each episode features an interview with a Stanford GSB faculty member.

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