The traditional assumption holds that the territory of money coincides precisely with the political frontiers of each nation state: France has the franc, the United Kingdom has the pound, the United States has the dollar. But the disparity between that simple mental landscape and the actual organization of currency spaces has grown in recent years, as territorial boundaries of individual states limit currency circulation less and less. Many currencies are used outside their "home" country for transactions either between nations or within foreign states. In this book, Benjamin J. Cohen asks what this new geography of money reveals about financial and political power. Cohen shows how recent changes in the geography of money challenge state sovereignty. He examines the role of money and the scope of cross-border currency competition in today's world. Drawing on new work in geography and network theory to explain the new spatial organization of monetary relations, Cohen suggests that international relations, political as well as economic, are being dramatically reshaped by the increasing interpenetration of national monetary spaces. This process, he explains, generates tensions and insecurities as well as opportunities for cooperation.
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The Geography of Money
The traditional assumption holds that the territory of money coincides precisely with the political frontiers of each nation state: France has the franc, the United Kingdom has the pound, the United States has the dollar. But the disparity between that simple mental landscape and the actual organization of currency spaces has grown in recent years, as territorial boundaries of individual states limit currency circulation less and less. Many currencies are used outside their "home" country for transactions either between nations or within foreign states. In this book, Benjamin J. Cohen asks what this new geography of money reveals about financial and political power. Cohen shows how recent changes in the geography of money challenge state sovereignty. He examines the role of money and the scope of cross-border currency competition in today's world. Drawing on new work in geography and network theory to explain the new spatial organization of monetary relations, Cohen suggests that international relations, political as well as economic, are being dramatically reshaped by the increasing interpenetration of national monetary spaces. This process, he explains, generates tensions and insecurities as well as opportunities for cooperation.
The traditional assumption holds that the territory of money coincides precisely with the political frontiers of each nation state: France has the franc, the United Kingdom has the pound, the United States has the dollar. But the disparity between that simple mental landscape and the actual organization of currency spaces has grown in recent years, as territorial boundaries of individual states limit currency circulation less and less. Many currencies are used outside their "home" country for transactions either between nations or within foreign states. In this book, Benjamin J. Cohen asks what this new geography of money reveals about financial and political power. Cohen shows how recent changes in the geography of money challenge state sovereignty. He examines the role of money and the scope of cross-border currency competition in today's world. Drawing on new work in geography and network theory to explain the new spatial organization of monetary relations, Cohen suggests that international relations, political as well as economic, are being dramatically reshaped by the increasing interpenetration of national monetary spaces. This process, he explains, generates tensions and insecurities as well as opportunities for cooperation.
Benjamin J. Cohen is Louis G. Lancaster Professor of International Political Economy at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of many other books, including The Future of Money, In Whose Interest? International Banking and American Foreign Policy and Organizing the World's Money: The Political Economy of International Monetary Relations.
What People are Saying About This
Joanne Gowa
A highly original and compelling analysis of the political and economic effects, between and within nations, of changes in the organization of currencies. Displays all the Jerry Cohen trademarks: crystal-clear writing, trenchant historical insight, and deep understanding of the intricate ties between money and power.
Robert Solomon
Benjamin Cohen provides us with a provocative and lively exploration of the internationalization of money and of its policy implications.
Peter B. Kenen
A new and challenging explanation for the different domains of national currencies, which draws on the insight of economists and political scientists—it should be read by both.
Susan Strange
Benjamin Cohen is one of a rare breed of professional economists who have bravely ventured into the dangerous waters of international political economy. The Geography of Money is erudite, readable, and will be relished by students of international relations, aware as they are of the looming dangers of globalised finance.
Miles Kahler
Professor Cohen cuts through the rhetoric of globalization and provides an excellent, detailed road map to the new and slippery monetary terrain that confronts policymakers and analysts.
Charles H. Dallara
During this era of global capital markets and currency volatility, Benjamin Cohen has written a book that is timely, informative, and thought-provoking. His refreshing multidisciplinary approach to the role of money in international affairs should be read by all who wish to gain a better understanding of the forces that shape today's global money markets.
