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UNITED STATES DOLLAR Since the mid- 20th Century , the '' De Facto '' world currency has been the United States Dollar . According to Robert Gilpin in ''Global Political Economy: Understanding the International Economic Order'' (2001): "Somewhere between 40 and 60 percent of international financial transactions are denominated in dollars. For decades the dollar has also been the world's principle reserve currency; in 1996, the dollar accounted for approximately two-thirds of the world's foreign exchange reserves" (255). Many of the world's currencies are pegged against the dollar. Until July 2005, the Chinese Renminbi was one such currency. Some countries, such as El Salvador , have gone even further and eliminated their own currency in favor of the United States dollar. HISTORY In the period following the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944 , Exchange Rate s around the world were Pegged against the United States Dollar , which could be exchanged for a fixed amount of Gold . Since the collapse of the Fixed Exchange Rate regime and the Gold Standard and the institution of Floating Exchange Rate s following the Smithsonian Agreement in 1971 , currencies around the world have no longer been pegged against the United States dollar. However, as the United States remained the world's preeminent economic Superpower , most international transactions continued to be conducted with the United States dollar, it has remained the '' De Facto '' world currency. Only two serious challengers to the status of the United States dollar as a world currency have arisen. During the 1980s , for a while, the Japanese Yen became increasingly used as an international currency, but that usage diminished with the Japanese recession in the 1990s . More recently, the relatively newly-created Euro has competed with the United States dollar in usage in international finance; however, as of 2005, the United States dollar remains far and away the most widely-used currency. HYPOTHETICAL SINGLE "TRUE" GLOBAL CURRENCY An alternate definition of a world or global currency refers to a hypothetical single global currency produced and supported by a Central Bank which is used for ''all'' transactions around the world, regardless of the Nationality of the entities (individuals, corporations, governments, or other organizations) involved in the transaction. No such official currency currently exists for a variety of reasons, political and economic. There are many different variations of the idea, including a possibility that it would be administered by a global as an example of a supranational currency successfully implemented by a union of nations with disparate languages, cultures, and economies. Others quote Digital Gold Currency as an example of how global currency can be implemented without achieving national government consensus. Arguments for a global currency Some of the benefits cited by advocates of a global currency are that it would:
Arguments against a single global currency Many economists argue that a single global currency is unworkable given the vastly different national political and economic systems in existence. Political difficulties In the present world, nations are not yet able to work together closely enough to be able to produce and support a common currency. There has to be a high level of trust before different countries before a true world currency could be created. Critics argue that a world currency would undermine National Sovereignty . Economical difficulties Some economists argue that a single world currency is unnecessary, because the U.S. dollar already provides many of the benefits of a world currency while avoiding some of the costs {Link without Title} . If the world does not form an Optimum Currency Area , then it would be economically inefficient for the world to share one currency. A world currency would not allow for adjustments by national central banks to accommodate local economic problems. A single currency can only have a single Interest Rate . However, different regions in the world, with varying rates of economic growth, may require different interest rates. As an example, consider a hypothetical Country A that is a Petroleum Exporter and a hypothetical Country B that is an oil Importer . If the price of oil goes up, this is an advantage for Country A, and a disadvantage for Country B. If the oil price goes up, this stimulates the economy of Country A; to avoid "overheating" the economy, Country A's central bank would support increasing the interest rate of Country A. At the same time, Country B's economy is damaged by the increased price of oil, and Country B's central bank would seek to lower the interest rate in order to stimulate the economy. However, Country A and Country B would be unable to do this if they shared the same currency. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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