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The Offshore Dollar and US Policy

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  • Robert N. McCauley

Abstract

Dollar borrowing outside the United States has over generations grown to be very large, with US policy providing some inducement and, in critical episodes, support. But in lending dollars through open-ended central bank swaps in 2008 and 2020, the Fed broke new ground as international lender of last resort. By countering dollar runs on non-US banks, the Fed supplied the global public good of financial stability. In addition, it restored domestic US monetary transmission. In 2020 the Fed's last-resort buying of domestic corporate bonds also did double duty, stabilizing the global dollar bond market. Although the Fed has swap lines with relatively few central banks, their banks and currency markets consistently dominate offshore dollar borrowing. Lending through central bank swaps thus enables the Fed to backstop global dollar funding markets at times of severe strain. Questions abound regarding moral hazard, the new benchmark dollar rate, bond-market crisis management, and feasible scale.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert N. McCauley, 2024. "The Offshore Dollar and US Policy," Policy Hub, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 2024(2), pages 1-40, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:a00068:99093
    DOI: 10.29338/ph2024-02
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    international lender of last resort; Federal Reserve; financial crises; eurodollar;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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