The essence of monetary hegemony is the power of one monetary authority to influence monetary conditions outside its jurisdiction. Such power did not exist under the gold standard but came into existence for the U.S. Federal Reserve in the aftermath of the First World War. The basis of that power was the massive drain of gold out of Europe into the U.S. during its period of neutrality and the scope for the newly created Federal Reserve to pursue a discretionary monetary policy with specific aims such as stable prices, rapid recovery from recession, and countering pullbacks in the equity market. Throughout its 100-year exercise of monetary hegemony, the U.S. has used this in ways that have spread inflation around the globe, both goods inflation and asset inflation. Both the U.S. and the rest of the world would have benefited from a U.S. monetary hegemon based on sound money principle rather than on inflationary finance.

货币霸权的本质是一个货币当局在其管辖范围之外影响货币状况的权力。这种权力在金本位制下并不存在，但是在第一次世界大战之后就已经存在于美国联邦储备委员会。这种权力的基础是在中立期间黄金大量从欧洲流出到美国，以及新成立的美联储实行可自由支配的货币政策的范围，其具体目标包括稳定价格，从衰退中快速复苏，并应对股市的回调。在整个100年的货币霸权活动中，美国一直在以这种方式使通货膨胀在全球蔓延，包括商品通货膨胀和资产通货膨胀。美国和世界其他地方都将从美国受益