美元作为世界货币的基础是什么?

What Is the Foundation of the U.S. Dollar as the World Money?

布雷顿森林体系崩溃后,美元作为以政府税收作为抵押、纯粹建立在国家信用基础上的信用货币并不是天然的世界货币。其作为世界货币的价值可以由购买力所代表的社会必要劳动时间来衡量。在美国国内,美元对购买力的垄断以国家政权为后盾,而在世界范围内,美元的购买力则需要其他竞争国家的共同承认。显然其他国家对美元基准地位的承认并不是互惠共赢的结果,而是因为美元在与黄金脱钩后本质上成为了一种资本,通过建立国家间的剥削和不平等发展关系实现了美元霸权。通过国际生产结构中的商品关系和资本关系,其他国家被纳入依附性的国际货币体系并客观上不得不帮助美国维持美元霸权。与此同时,美国通过国际机制和军事威胁等超经济手段加强了对其他国家的控制力,起到了将美元霸权制度化并保护其免受侵犯的作用。虽然美元霸权体系的不平等性决定了其内生的不稳定性,美元霸权在长期中可能被动摇,但由于其他国家脱离这一体系存在高额成本,依附性的国际货币体系和超经济手段相配合可以在很大程度上延缓美元霸权的衰落。在缺乏外来冲击的情况下,美元作为世界货币的霸权地位将在相当长时间内维持下去,人民币国际化进程将充满挑战。

After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, the U. S. dollar, as a credit currency backed by government taxes, is not a natural world money. Its value as a world money can be measured by the socially necessary labor time represented by pur- chasing power. In the United States, the monopoly of the dollar on purchasing power is backed by state power. But outside the United States, the purchasing power of the dollar needs to be acknowledged by other competing countries. Obviously, recognition of the U. S. dollar by other countries is not a win-win result. The reason is that the U.S. dollar has essentially become a capital after being irredeemable with gold and has achieved dollar hegemony by establishing international relations of exploitation and ine- quality. Through the relations of goods and capital in the international production struc- ture, other countries are included in the dependent international monetary system and objectively have to help the United States to maintain its dollar hegemony. At the same time, the United States has strengthened its control over other countries through super-economic means such as international mechanisms and military threats, which have played a role of institutionalizing and protecting the dollar hegemony. Although the inequality of the dollar hegemony determines its endogenous instability, the dollar he- gemony may be shaken in the long run. However, due to the high cost of other coun- tries leaving the system, the dependent international monetary system and the super-e- conomic means can largely delay the decline of dollar hegemony. In the absence of exter- nal shocks, the hegemony of the U. S. dollar will be maintained for a long period of time. The internationalization of RMB will be full of challenges.