... economic one, and access to the different types of currency depends on government policy and banking-sector regulation. Copyright © 2016 World Policy Institute 2016 money banking history currency DERBETH DERBETH History, ghosts, money: These are more connected than common sense...

...David A. Andelman David A. Andelman is editor of World Policy Journal. © World Policy Institute 2014 2014 World Policy Institute Illustration: Damien Glez Then, as now, currencies are the heart and soul of society and the governments that rule them. Last year in these...

... different degrees and involving different shades of financial undercurrents. An interesting prism to see this continual globalization is through the role itinerant and global currencies and monetary unions have played. Money is often defined as “as any object (or record of that object) which is...

...Donald Straszheim In the end, none of this is to suggest that Beijing should suspend all currency reforms. In the long run, the more decisions that can be left to the invisible hand of the marketplace, instead of to the visible hand of Beijing officialdom, the easier the task will be—and the...

...Xavier Rolet WPJ: OPEC had been trying to create some sort of basket for denominating oil back to the 1970s. But they could never figure out a way of actually getting all the component currencies lined up appropriately. Are you not concerned that the vastly disparate levels of growth and...

... bank, it seems, had a standard weight for a certain amount of coins for each denomination. Instead of going into the bank and counting the coins, they would weigh them because there were so many. “Inflation got so bad,” she continued, “it was a relief to have a stable currency, as our money was losing...

... mercy of the ebb and flow of plain, hard cash. Currencies today are very much the defining feature of nations, individually and collectively. A flailing and fragmented Europe seeks to hang together—retain its global reach—on the strength of a single currency that has taken on a life or near-death of its...

..., which totaled well tals. They were like auto mechanics who, over $100 billion. Against this debt, South having found that the engine parts were in Korea’s central bank had less than $30 bil­ working order, pronounced the car to be in lion in reserves. As the currency dropped, good shape, all...

... empir­ quences of liberalization and globalization, ical record. After the U.S. Fed lowered in­ including the right-wing opposition to the terest rates in September 1998, East Asian Bretton Woods institutions in the United currencies strengthened and stabilized. In­ States, as reflected by the...

... money after leaving the government”—has, like other financially savvy expats and Argentines, been using the currency black market here the past two years. Foreigners can get far more pesos for their dollars. Locals often have no other option to get dollars. Argentina’s currency black market has...

... should be transplanted more into China. Currency is the most obvious field of influence right now—with Western countries pushing for a more flexible yuan policy, specifically. Is that something we should desire? JYL : We need to distinguish between the long-term goal and the short-term challenge...

.... Argentina’s tough import restrictions, designed to help the central bank maintain a stable exchange rate by controlling the amount of foreign currency in circulation, require companies to send out as much as they bring in. Since her re-election in October, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has forced...

... crash en route, a tragedy the government blamed on the Dragons. The showdown in Chubut was just the most visible of an increasing number of demonstrations taking place nationwide as workers demand wage increases and urbanites rally against currency controls. As has been the case for much of this...

... declared the EU “without a doubt” the greatest threat to inhabitants of the Nordic nation. The Brexit result does not necessarily mean the beginning of the end for a united Europe. Many Europeans who grew up not knowing border controls or currency exchanges remain optimistic about the future of the EU...

... his Coda, World Policy Journal editor David A. Andelman chronicles the use and abuse of currencies across the globe. — The Editors ...

... reflect,” I continued, “the realization that the recovery from the worldwide recession had not progresssed enough to sustain higher prices,” two years after the OPEC oil embargo. the impact of falling oil prices should not be seen as confined solely to the currencies of russia, nigeria, and...

... currency crisis to a re­ count deficit dangerously financed by short­ gional financial crisis and then an economic term capital flows. Unlike Thailand and In­ crisis with the help of IMF-imposed austerity donesia, which relied on borrowing from policies; document the breakdown of pru­...

... very weak.) Spain and Portugal even outperform Britain and Sweden, two countries that benefited from significant currency depreciation during the crisis (since they retained their domestic currencies by remaining outside the euro currency zone). Presumably, the drastic reduction in domestic demand in...