Dollar Dominance Slipping Away Amid Global Economic Shifts

The US dollar's role as the world's reserve currency has been eroding gradually for decades. The Bretton Woods conference in 1944, where Harry Dexter White imposed an indirect gold standard, fixed the gold price in dollars and pegged other currencies to it at fixed exchange rates.

This made the dollar the dominant currency, with most central bank reserves still denominated in dollars and over two-fifths of international trade invoiced in US currency.

The US economy's share of global output has fallen from a quarter after World War II to under 15% today. However, its stock market still accounts for over three-fifths of the world's total market capitalization.