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

Question

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?

In: 19

Answer 1

Note that international trade within Europe’s Eurozone – and often to/from the Eurozone – will use the Euro. It’s not as widely used as the dollar, but it is important.