# The Fed's Real Job: Propping Up Dollar Reserve Currency Status

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-human-action-podcast-1569402/the-fed-s-real-job-propping-up-dollar-reserve-currency-status.md
Podcast: [The Human Action Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-human-action-podcast-1569402)
Published: 2026-06-13T14:31:00+00:00
Episode link: https://mises.org/podcasts/human-action-podcast/feds-real-job-propping-dollar-reserve-currency-status
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/cdn.mises.org/2026-06/HAPod-553-20260613.mp3
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## Resource

Bob sits down with economists Alexander Salter and Joshua Hendrickson to discuss their new paper arguing that the standard Austrian critique of the Fed while correct, is fundamentally incomplete. They argue that the Fed's actual institutional role is to backstop U.S. dollar hegemony: the deliberately constructed post-Bretton Woods system in which the dollar serves as the world's reserve currency, U.S. Treasuries as the global safe asset, and the Fed as buyer of last resort for sovereign debt worldwide. Related: Hendrickson & Salter, "Should We End the Fed? Can We?": Mises.org/HAP553a

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