Friends and Foes of Liberty

Ronald McKinnon, the William D. Eberle Professor of International Economic at Stanford University and author of Unloved Dollar Standard: From Bretton Woods to the Rise of China, talks about the benefits that America derives from--and the responsibilities that it has--under the dollar standard. He discusses the harm that U.S. monetary policy has inflicted on emerging countries like China and Brazil, and explains why an appreciation in China's currency would not tilt the U.S.-China trade balance in America's favor.