Cyril Black International Book Forum to focus on the future of the dollar

The role of the dollar and the future of global currency is the subject of the Cyril Black International Book Forum to be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 7, 2011, in Robertson Hall, Room 16, at Princeton University. This year’s event features Barry Eichengreen, whose latest book, "Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System," was released in December.

The forum is cosponsored by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, the Center for International Security Studies, and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. The discussants are G. John Ikenberry, Princeton's Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs; Harold James, a professor of history and international affairs at the University; and Hyun S. Shin, Princeton's Hughes-Rogers Professor of Economics.

Eichengreen, the George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and professor of political science at the University of California-Berkeley, is a renowned specialist in public policy, economics and international financial politics. "Exorbitant Privilege" traces the rise and decline of the dollar over the course of the 20th century and challenges the presumption that there is room for only one international currency.

In addition to his position at Berkeley, Eichengreen is the current president of the Economic History Association, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass., and a research fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research in London. A former senior policy adviser for the International Monetary Fund, he is a prolific commentator on international monetary and financial systems both domestically and abroad and writes a monthly column for "Project Syndicate." His books include (as coeditor) "Emerging Giants: China and India in the World Economy" (2010), "Labor in the Era of Globalization" (2009) and "Fostering Monetary and Financial Cooperation in East Asia" (2009).

The Cyril Black International Book Forum is held in honor of the late Cyril Black, the emeritus James S. McDonnell Distinguished Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University. Black was the director of the Princeton’s Center of International Studies from 1968 to 1985 and a member of the University faculty for 50 years.

The event will be followed by a book signing and reception. Copies of "Exorbitant Privilege" will be on sale. Contact Jayne Bialkowski at jayne@princeton.edu or (609) 258-2635 for more information.