The Wall Street Journal today discusses the trials and tribulations of the U.S. dollar in a page one story, pointing out for whom it is causing problems, worldwide, and there was this one tiny bit that caught my eye:
Yet for all of the gloom, the world is unready to let go of America’s unloved dollar. Akin to the way Microsoft’s often-criticized Windows operating system remains indispensable to the majority of computer users, the dollar remains the common language of finance, the medium of exchange in everything from sugar to wheat to oil.
It made me wonder, then, if the euro is the Mac of global currencies: en vogue, if not widely adopted.
Graphic Courtesy of The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones
7 comments so far
9:13 AM PT
Not widely adopted ?
Well, the euro is 6 years old and already has 31% of the global debt market.
Would be nice to see how much was the dollar 7 years ago …. maybe 60% of the market ? (the rest being the german mark, yen and maybe the pound 10 years ago)
Give it another 10 years …..
9:18 AM PT
Yes, the euro is to dollar as Mac is to Windows, if you’re a shallow, brand obsessed moron - no offense! ;-)
I’m not a currency specialist, but the dollar seems to be down because the US borrows too much (and certain parts of the world hate American capitalism and would prefer a world ruled by socialist/sharia principles).
A cheaper dollar actually helps American exports, which should help restore some of the US manufacturing base in competition with places like China.
For growth in the long run I’d look to the emerging economies, not the EU. Europe is a greying continent with huge social and political challenges ahead.
9:22 AM PT
In reserves, the growth of the dollar seems to be some 2.5x over last ten years, Euro seems to be some 5x. Should the current growth rates continue (unlikely), then Euroes would form a larger proportion in some 10-15 years.
9:57 AM PT
Poppycock! the Euro is a government sponsored Linux. the real Mac is the British Pouind. Hard to use but all the cool kids have it.
9:59 AM PT
Well, #1 and #3 appear to something of international commerce, anyway.
I think the analogy is apt - and if I steal it and blog it, I will credit you, Om. :-]
The rate of change in relative strength and position is likely to accelerate, btw, as the petrodollar is replaced by the petroeuro. Happening not only in Venezuela; but, in that interesting stretch of the planet from Russia to Tajikistan.
12:45 AM PT
The Euro has already displaced the dollar in bond markets one year ago: (link)
So, no, the comparison between currencies and OSs is not very apt.
5:28 AM PT
I am afraid Om that I do not find the comparison very succesful. If the dollar was as good as Windows then it would not be in much trouble, at least for the foreseable future.
What most people are not aware of is that there is still EU states that have not adopted the euro for various reasons, including the UK, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, etc. The complete EU market is about half a billion people so the euro gets all the weight it needs to stay important.
However, it is certainly better for world economic balance that these two currencies do get too weak against each other…
(link)
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