EVENTS

Abstract

The accumulation of reserves by China is usually considered a bilateral matter between the US and China. Does it give China leverage against the US? This presentation argues that there is third actor which is affected by the reserve accumulation, the rest of the world. Actually, the rest of the world can be divided into two – one part includes the Eurozone and Japan whose currencies also act as reserve currencies and another part comprising those mostly in the developing world but also countries such as Australia. This presentation distinguishes the effect of reserves accumulation from what would happen if China suddenly offloaded the US bonds in which it holds the reserves. It will be argued that the effects are complex difficult to predict therefore, and not as simple as is often made out to be.

About the Speaker

Prof. Manmohan Agarwal has studied at the Delhi School of Economics and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been teaching at the Centre of International Trade and Development at JNU for more than a quarter of a century. He teaches mainly Macroeconomics, both open and closed, but has also taught Investment Finance and Development Economics. He has also worked at the World Bank and the IMF. His publications are in his main areas of research interest, namely international economics and development economics, though he has publications also in the area of environmental economics and international political economy