“Everyone should pay in mondos”
What’s a mondo?
“It could be the name of a new global currency that everyone on this planet could use.”
Why would we need one?
“It makes any national economy more reliable, because there will be no more uncertainty about currency rates, rates of return, interest rates, devaluation, etc. Did you know that every day $1.8 trillion U.S. is traded internationally? We spend billions of dollars on speculation and transaction costs, on a daily basis! One global currency would mean a lot of cost-saving.”
These do not sound like major global problems that need immediate fixing.
Countries with more fluctuation in their currencies show less economic development, about two percent less. If we can introduce a global currency, poor countries wouldn’t pay so much to keep these national currencies, and their economies would grow more. Believe me, the poor will benefit more from a single global currency.”
Don’t you think people are just attached to their old coins and bills?
“In Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia—which is to say, most of the world—people would love to give up their national currency and replace it with the dollar, or the euro, or the yen, because they don’t trust their own national currency.”
So what are we waiting for?
“For national governments to give up their privilege to print money whenever they need some extra money. And for the insight that it’s just stupid to have all those different currencies. Why not then have a currency for your own village, or even for your family? Maybe you’d like one for yourself! That would be a disaster, right? It’s simply more convenient to have a single currency for everyone. While all these different currencies made sense at a time when there wasn’t so much travelling and when economies were not as integrated as they are now, it’s simply inevitable that we need more common standards in a globalized world.”
José Luis Cordeiro is a economist who teaches at the Central University of Venezuela and consults with various companies and organizations. He’s founder of the Venezuelan chapter of the World Future Society, and sits on the board of advisors of the Single Global Currency Association (www.singleglobalcurrency.org).
