Internationalization of the use of Chinese currency : perspectives from the New and the Ancient Silk Roads

Abstract

In this paper, we provide an up-to-date analysis of issues and perspectives related to the potential international and regional use of the Chinese currency, with a special focus on the New Silk Road (or One Belt, One Road OBOR) initiative as well as an examination of the use of various forms of Chinese money along the Ancient Silk Road. From the perspectives of China, the OBOR project fulfills several national objectives, with the internationalization of the RMB being one potential aim. We adopt and extend an agglomeration-geography model and apply the model to the OBOR initiative and the resulting increased use of the Chinese currency. Our paper also provides a discussion of the experiences of using various forms of Chinese money along the Ancient Silk Road.