Central banks, as FP’s Adam Tooze wrote in 2020, “hold the reins of the global economy.” In recent decades, their role has expanded, and more analysts have begun to ask not just whether but how central banks shape geopolitics.

This edition of Flash Points offers some answers to that question, with insightful essays on the reign of the dollar, the global influence of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the relationship between autocracy and monetary policy, and more.—Chloe Hadavas

The Rise and Fall and Rise (and Fall) of the U.S. Financial Empire

The dollar is dead. Long live the dollar, FP’s Adam Tooze writes.

How the Fed Became Everything (and Everything Became the Fed)

Two books peel back the curtain on the central bank—but miss why it misread the economy in the wake of the pandemic, David Wessel writes.

A BRICS Currency Could Shake the Dollar’s Dominance

De-dollarization’s moment might finally be here, Joseph W. Sullivan writes.

The Death of the Central Bank Myth

For decades, monetary policy has been treated as technical, not political. The pandemic has ended that illusion forever, FP’s Adam Tooze writes.

How Dictators Make Money—and Money Makes Dictators

A new history of Russia’s ruble highlights the reciprocal relationship between autocracy and monetary policy, Carey K. Mott writes.