...(Editor's Note: We published the original version of this article on May 16, 2005, and updated it on Oct. 15, 2007, and March 10, 2010. The version below, our third update, reflects the BIS triennial survey data as of September 2013.) The U.S. dollar is the world's most accepted currency by most measures. It has remained so despite the global recession of 2008, which germinated in the U.S. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cites the dollar's status as one of the factors supporting its '##+' long-term issuer credit rating on the United States of America (1). If the dollar did not have this role, we believe that the U.S. would not have such ready access to external financing, interest rates would have to rise to attract higher domestic savings, and potential growth would fall. (2) As we see it, the U.S. dollar did not attain this position by accident (see appendix), nor does the U.S. maintain it simply with inertia. Rather, the dollar's widespread acceptance stems from the U.S. economy's...