Perry Mehrling on Trump's Echoes of the Nixon Shock

Odd Lots

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4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

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Summary

There's been a lot of talk recently about parallels between Donald Trump's economic policies and the Nixon Shock of the early 1970s. That was when the former president took the dollar off the gold standard, introduced hefty tariffs, and pressured the Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy. The moves sparked stagflation in the US and shook up the global monetary order. Now, given Trump's determination to rebalance the US relationship with global trading partners and his criticism of the Fed, could history repeat itself? On this episode, we speak with Perry Mehrling, professor of international political economy at Boston University's Pardee School of Global Studies, and the author of the book Money and Empire. We talk to him about similarities and differences between the Trump administration's current economic policies and the Nixon Shock, as well as why he thinks dollar dominance won't be dislodged anytime soon.

Read more:
Dollar Poised for Worst First 100 Days of Presidency Since Nixon
The Problem With the Fed Isn’t Independence, It’s Accountability

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