The dollar's days as a universal reserve currency are numbered

Satyajit Das, a former banker, is the author of "A Banquet of Consequences: Reloaded" and "Wild Quests."

Current debates around the international monetary system focus on de-dollarization. Despite modest shifts to other currencies and gold, the U.S. dollar remains dominant due to its incumbency, large share of trade and reserves, liquid capital markets and the absence of obvious replacements. But that misses the central issue: a universal trading and reserve currency is needed because of underlying imbalances in trade and savings.