Unlike France, the U.S. has its own printing press and can’t default if borrowing costs spiral. Exorbitant privilege.

The French certainly have a way with words. 

Many about food, fashion and art have made their way into English, naturally, but a surprising number of financial terms did too. Without them we’d have no arbitrage, entrepreneurs, tranches, financiers or even millionaires

A former French finance minister /Former French finance minister (eventually president) Valéry Giscard d’Estaing/  about the benefit America reaps from having the world’s reserve currency.  “le privilège exorbitant”.

For many Americans it’s an article of faith that the stock market eventually rises over time, that Uncle Sam’s liabilities are risk-free and that America’s armed forces will never lose a fight for lack of money.

Now, federal borrowing is starting to feel unsustainable, U.S. stocks fetch twice the valuation of other developed markets and the Navy is struggling to protect vital sea lanes from a third-rate adversary. 

Je ne sais quoi betyder ungefär ”det där lilla extra” – en särskild charm eller kvalitet som man märker men inte riktigt kan beskriva.

Unlike France, the U.S. has its own printing press and can’t default if borrowing costs spiral.

Spencer Jakab Wall Street Journal 7 October 2026

https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/u-s-investors-have-an-exorbitant-privilege-16201ed3

Martin Wolf och Rolf Englund om att den som har en sedelpress går inte i konkurs. Ganska självklart, men vänta till Wolf har förklarat det vetenskapligt.

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2012/05/martin-wolf-och-rolf-englund-om-att-den.html

The dollar’s international role: An “exorbitant privilege”?

This post is the third of three based on my Mundell-Fleming lecture, which discussed the international effects of Fed policy 

(see here for a paper that expands on the lecture’s themes).

https://www.imf.org/external/np/res/seminars/2015/arc/pdf/Bernanke.pdf

In the two previous posts (see here and here), I addressed a pair of criticisms of recent U.S. monetary policy: (1) that the U.S. had engaged in “currency wars” by depreciating the dollar for competitive advantage in trade; and (2) that shifts in U.S. monetary policy have had spillover effects on financial stability in other countries, especially emerging markets.

Ben S. Bernanke January 7, 2016

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-dollars-international-role-an-exorbitant-privilege-2/