Why is the dollar the “reserve currency” of the world?

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Many explanations I read come down to “almost everyone uses the dollar in international trade”, ” almost all energy is invoiced and paid in dollars” and “almost all international financial flows go through NY one way or the other”, but that just seems a restatement of the fact that the dollar is the reserve currency of the world. My question is: why? How did it end up that way?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

not being in the firing line of the Axis powers during WW2 meant that whilst europe was in tatters the US was basically fine

it used to be the British pound up until the early 20th century, but two world wars and the associated bombing campaigns stopped that from continuing. Germany was in half after the war and nobody trusted them, france was in a worse state than Britain was

It was either the USD or nothing, so it became the USD

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