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American hegemony: intellectual property rights, dollar centrality, and infrastructural power

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  • Herman Mark Schwartz

Abstract

How does dollar centrality persist in the face of continuous US current account deficits and a steadily worsening net international investment position? Two mechanisms create a structural basis for dollar centrality, explaining how dollars enter global credit markets and why surplus countries continue to hold dollar-denominated assets. First, institutional structures deriving from late development suppress domestic demand in major current account surplus countries, making them reliant on external demand for growth. Local banks recycle those dollars into the global economy, creating huge dollar liabilities and assets on their balance sheets. This locks them into continued use of the dollar and reliance on the US Federal Reserve during crises. Second, US firms participating in the global unbundling of production have constructed commodity chains in which they capture disproportionate shares of global profits through their control over Intellectual property. These profits sustain valuations and thus the attractiveness of dollar-denominated assets. Routinization in use of the dollar and compliance with Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and US controlled commodity chains creates infrastructural power in Michael Mann’s sense. This routinization sustains US geo-economic power in the face of persistent current account deficits and growing net international debt relative to US gross domestic product.

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  • Herman Mark Schwartz, 2019. "American hegemony: intellectual property rights, dollar centrality, and infrastructural power," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 490-519, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:rripxx:v:26:y:2019:i:3:p:490-519
    DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2019.1597754
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    Cited by:

    1. Wansleben Leon, 2021. "Capitalization and its Legal Friends," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 53-64, March.
    2. Nölke, Andreas, 2022. "The weaponization of global payment infrastructures: A strategic dilemma," SAFE White Paper Series 89, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    3. Bayari, Celal, 2020. "The Neoliberal Globalization Link to the Belt and Road Initiative: The State and State-Owned-Enterprises in China [alternative title: Bilateral and Multilateral Dualities of the Chinese State in the C," MPRA Paper 104471, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 21 Jul 2020.
    4. Schwartz, Herman M., 2024. "Triffin reloaded: The matrix of contradictions around global quasi-state money," MPIfG Discussion Paper 24/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    5. Ashwath Komath, 2022. "Bancor Comes of Age: A Case for an Indian Bitcoin Reserve," India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, , vol. 78(1), pages 121-142, March.
    6. Olk, Christopher, 2024. "How much a dollar cost: Currency hierarchy as a driver of ecologically unequal exchange," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    7. Mathis L Richtmann & Lea Steininger, 2023. "From bazooka to backstop: the political economy of standing swap facilities," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 47(4), pages 681-702.
    8. Herman Mark Schwartz, 2022. "The European Union, the United States, and Trade: Metaphorical Climate Change, Not Bad Weather," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 186-197.
    9. Rogelio Madrueño & Magdalene Silberberger, 2022. "Dimensions and Cartography of Dirty Money in Developing Countries: Tripping Up on the Global Hydra," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 25-39.
    10. Gentilucci, Eleonora, 2020. "A causality analysis. Military expenditures and economic growth in USA and China," MPRA Paper 104848, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Baines, Joseph & Hager, Sandy Brian, 2023. "Rentiership and Intellectual Monopoly in Contemporary Capitalism: Conceptual Challenges and Empirical Possibilities," EconStor Preprints 270981, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    12. Song, Yan & Xiu, Yifan & Zhao, Mengyang & Tian, Ye & Wang, Jingyuan, 2024. "Intellectual property protection and enterprise innovation: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PB).
    13. Thomas Palley, 2022. "Theorizing dollar hegemony, Part 1: the political economic foundations of exorbitant privilege," Working Papers PKWP2220, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).

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