Economists’ opionions diverge greatly on how to resolve China’s “dollar trap”. This column suggests all US creditors need to do is demand that the US government swap nominal US Treasury bills, notes, and bonds for inflation-adjusted instruments. This will reduce the incentive of the US government to “inflate its way out of debt”, protect the value of emerging market reserves and redcue the risk of a resurgence in world inflation.
Olivier Accominotti, 23 April 2009
China’s “dollar trap” has many analysts worried about its future resolution. This column discusses a similar situation in the 1920s when France held more than half the world’s foreign reserves. France’s “sterling trap” ended disastrously. Sterling suffered a major currency crisis, French authorities lost a lot of money, and subsequent policy reactions deepened the Great Depression.
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