2026 Finch Lecture
Copland Theatre, The Spot Building (Building 110)
The University of Melbourne
198 Berkeley Street (Cnr Berkeley St and Pelham St) Carlton, VIC 3053
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The Global US Dollar in a Changing Financial System
The US dollar has long played a central role in global finance, but the way dollars are used and intermediated across borders has changed over time. This lecture briefly reviews this evolution and examines the functioning of today’s global dollar system. Drawing on recent research, it discusses how limits to financial arbitrage can generate segmentation in dollar markets, dollar funding shortages, and movements in exchange rates, as well as the implications for global banks and financial stability. The lecture concludes with a discussion of the role of policy in supporting the global dollar system during periods of stress.
Speaker: Professor Philippe Bacchetta, University of Lausanne
Professor Philippe Bacchetta is Swiss Finance Institute Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Lausanne. He holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and degrees in economics from the University of Lausanne. From 1998 to 2007, he was Director of the Study Center Gerzensee, a foundation of the Swiss National Bank. He has held academic positions at Brandeis University, ESADE, and the Instituto de Análisis Económico, and regularly serves as a visiting professor and academic consultant to central banks. His research focuses on open-economy macroeconomics, international finance, financial crises, and monetary economics. He is a Fellow of the European Economic Association and a former CEPR Program Director for International Macroeconomics and Finance.
About the Finch Lecture
The Finch Lecture is named after Dr David Finch (BCom 1944, BA (Hons) 1945, DCom 2002), a distinguished alumnus of the University of Melbourne, and a PhD recipient from the London School of Economics, where his supervisor was Lionel Robbins.
David was appointed to the newly established International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C., where he held the position of Councillor and Director of the Exchange and Trade section of the IMF. Among his many achievements, he led the IMF consultation mission to Britain in 1976. Dr Finch retired in 1987 from his position as Counsellor and Head of the Exchange and Trade Relations Department.
The lecture focuses on the subject of evolving practices and principles and related issues pertaining to international monetary, financial, fiscal and trade integration and cooperation.