The 2025-26 Arnold C. Harberger Distinguished Lecture on Economic Development: The Future of the Dollar

Kenneth Rogoff, Maurits C. Boas Professor at Harvard University and former chief economist, IMF

Thursday, February 12, 2026
4:30 PM
UCLA University Club (Former Faculty Club), Morrison Room
480 Charles E. Young Dr East
Los Angeles, CA 90095

ABOUT THE EVENT

Kenneth Rogoff argues that America’s currency might not have reached today’s lofty pinnacle without a certain amount of good luck. Drawing in part on his own experiences, including with policymakers and world leaders, Kenneth Rogoff animates the remarkable postwar run of the dollar—how it beat out the Japanese yen, the Soviet ruble, and the euro—and the challenges it faces today from crypto and the Chinese yuan, the end of reliably low inflation and interest rates, political instability, and the fracturing of the dollar bloc. Americans cannot take for granted that the Pax Dollar era will last indefinitely, not only because many countries are deeply frustrated with the system, but also because overconfidence and arrogance can lead to unforced errors. Rogoff shows how America’s outsized power and exorbitant privilege can spur financial instability—not just abroad but also at home.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Kenneth Rogoff is the Maurits C. Boas Professor at Harvard University, and former chief economist at the IMF. His influential 2009 book with Carmen Reinhart, This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, shows the remarkable quantitative similarities across time and countries in the roots and aftermath of debt and financial crises. Rogoff is also known for his pioneering work on central bank independence, and on exchange rates. His monthly syndicated column on global economic issues is published in over 50 countries. His 2025 Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance explores the post-war rise of the dollar, the challenges ahead from crypto and the Chinese yuan, and argues that the period of reliably low interest rates, inflation and exchange rate volatility has likely come to an end. His other notable books include the seminal Foundations of International Macroeconomics (1996, with Maurice Obstfeld), The Curse of Cash (2016); and Sovereign Debt: A Guide for Economists and Practitioners (2019)

Rogoff is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has long ranked among the top dozen most cited economists, and is an international grandmaster of chess.

ABOUT THE ARNOLD C. HARBERGER DISTINGUISHED LECTURE SERIES

Established in 1997, the Arnold C. Harberger Distinguished Lecture on Economic Development celebrates Arnold Harberger as an eminent scholar and teacher. The lectures provide a special forum for outstanding students of international economics and policy to present their views and research to the UCLA community and the public.