Here comes the euro

Could the euro overtake the dollar as the world’s premier reserve currency soon? Yes, says Niall Ferguson, professor of international history at Harvard University. At Euromoney’s Euro Fixed-Income Forum in Paris last month, Ferguson said that a growing US fiscal deficit in the short term, and the likely bankruptcy of the US social security system, could produce a crisis of confidence in the dollar.

Ferguson, known for books on the British and US empires, started his career with a history of early 20th century Hamburg business life.