MILLION BAZILLION STING

BRIDGET: And that’s the story of how I completed my collection of dollar bills featuring birds from around the world.

RYAN: Wow, I’m sure owl be the first to tell you, that sounds like an  im-peck-able adventure. 

BRIDGET: Yeah, I know people like bird watching, but honestly, money-featuring-birds-watching is a perfectly good hobby for those of us who are not really into sitting quietly in the outdoors. 

RYAN: Wren-ever you want to go out looking for bird money again, just let me know ‘Because “tou-can” play at that game!

BRIDGET: Okay, we can stop with the bird puns. 

RYAN: You think I’m making bird puns? That’s cuckoo! You’re a real comedi-hen, Bridget! Please sparrow-me your mocking tone- 

BRIDGET: Uh, you know what, let’s take a listener question. I think we just got one. 

ALESSIO: My name is Alessio and I am 9 years old and I am from Italy. I have lived in 3 countries and i have visited dozens more.

RYAN Man this 9 year old kid is better traveled than me, a thirty-nine year old man! Ciao, Alessio!  

ALESSIO: and it was kind of hard for me to understand if things were pricey or not whenever i went to another country because the currencies were different.

BRIDGET: Yep, that’s fair, good observation. 

ALESSIO: My question is: Why doesn't the world have the same currency and is it even possible?

RYAN: Wow, great question. We all know countries have their own currencies, but we’ve never stopped to think…what if they didn’t! 

BRIDGET: Yeah, I like how you’re thinking, what a great thought experiment! Luckily, there are smart people who can help us imagine what that world would be like. Like Hannah Gabriel, she teaches economics at Sacramento State University. Her speciality is international trade, which means understanding how countries buy and sell from each other. Hi Hannah. 

HANNAH: Hi, Bridget and Ryan!

RYAN: So first question, for people who don’t know the answer, unlike me, I know the answer, but why do all these countries have  different currencies?

HANNAH: So kinda the biggest reason that we don't see a lot of countries all sharing the same currency is because countries want to have some control over it. They don’t want to give that up. 

RYAN: Oh yes, it’s not unheard of. We learned more about why countries have their own currency back in season 4, episode 3. Like I said, that’s why I know the answer. Give it a listen.  

BRIDGET:  That’s right! and in that episode, we learned there are some bigger reasons, beyond money design, that countries have their own money. They want to be able to make their own choices about their economies. Like if they’re worried about a recession, they can print more money, and encourage people to spend and invest more. 

RYAN: Shout out to our episode about recessions, Season 5, episode 2. But I like this question because Alessio wants to know, what if. What if all these countries did share a currency? What would it take? 

HANNAH: A good example of this is, of course, the euro, where many European countries have the same currency, which was adopted in the early 2000s replacing their own currencies, the old ones, like the French franc, for example.

RYAN: Or the Italian lira! The countries that use the Euro are part of the Eurozone. Including Italy where Alessio is from. Which I guess is kind of like the mini version of what  he has in mind. There are 21 countries in Europe already using the same money. But why did they agree to share a currency like this?

HANNAH_4: One of the benefits of sharing a currency is it's very easy to trade with another country. And you're just able to go immediately buy the goods. And that, you know, increases the speed at which you can trade, as well as it makes it a lot easier. So that’s probably one of the biggest benefits.

BRIDGET: That makes a lot of sense. These countries are right next door to each other, so using the same money makes it easier and faster to buy and sell things. And it also makes traveling simpler. People don’t have to worry about exchanging currencies.

RYAN: If Europe can do it, why not the whole world? That’s what I want to know! I mean, come on, how hard could it be for people to entirely change their form of money?

HANNAH: [Laughs a bit] So in order to kind of get on the same page and agree to have a shared currency, you have to think about everybody’s economy. You can't just act in your own best interest. You're going to have to do a lot more work to enact monetary policy, and that's not easy for a lot of countries to do.

BRIDGET: So to make this work, all these Eurozone countries have regular meetings and look at what’s happening in all of their economies, like how fast prices are rising or whether businesses are growing. Then they make one decision as a group on  things like interest rates that will benefit everyone.

HANNAH: It requires an enormous degree of cooperation between countries if you want to share a currency. And You have to think about everyone. You have to be a real team player. 

RYAN: Ooh, like in basketball. 

SFX BASKETBALL GAME: DRIBBLING, SNEAKERS SQUEAKING, CROWD NOISE

PLAYER #1: Pass it left. I’m open! 

PLAYER #2: Got it. Watch out!

BRIDGET: Exactly. Not everyone on a team is playing at the same level all the time. Sometimes you’ve got a star player carrying the game…

SFX: Ball swishing through the hoop. Crowd cheering.

ANNOUNCER: And that’s another three-pointer!

BRIDGET: And sometimes a player is struggling or even injured, and the rest of the team has to step up.

SFX Sneakers squeaking, someone trips.

PLAYER #2: Ouch, I think I’ve sprained my ankle!

PLAYER #3: I’ve got you! I’ll cover your spot!

PLAYER #1: Don’t worry. I’ll take the shot!

SFX Dribbling, sneakers squeaking, ball swishing, crowd cheering.

ANNOUNCER: What a play! They’re taking the lead!

BRIDGET:  And that’s what it takes to be on a team like this: you have to show up for each other, especially when things are not going well.

RYAN: Yeah. If one player is in trouble, it affects the whole team. That could be the difference between winning and losing. Just like countries that share one currency, they have to work together because one country’s problems can affect everyone else.

BRIDGET: And sometimes the star players need to step up to lead when other players might not be doing as well. In the eurozone, some countries have bigger economies than others. Germany, for example, has the largest economy in the group. So when the eurozone faces economic trouble, countries like Germany sometimes play a big role in helping keep things stable.

RYAN: Okay. So the eurozone is like a team of countries that agreed to share the same money. But what if a country doesn’t want to build a whole team like that? Is there an easier way to share a currency?

FRANKLE: So there's some countries in the Western Hemisphere that use the dollar.

BRIDGET: This is Jeffrey Frankel. He teaches economics at Harvard University–

RYAN: Harvard! Ever heard of it?

BRIDGET: [CONTINUING] And he specializes in international finance.

FRANKLE: Panama has since it was independent Panama and Central America and Ecuador has been using the dollar for like, 20 years. And El Salvador, these are all countries in Latin America.

RYAN: This is the American dollar they’re using? 

BRIDGET: Yep, the American dollar, the one with George Washington on the one and Abraham Lincoln on the five and on and on. These countries use US dollars because they had some problems with their own money. So like inflation,  the value of their currency kept going down. They like using the US dollar because it keeps the prices more stable and predictable. It’s just easier for people who live in those countries. 

FRANKLE:  Now they just use the dollar. It’s sort of one-sided … 

BRIDGET: By one-sided he means … The Federal Reserve makes money decisions based on what’s best for the US and not for other countries that might use U.S. dollars. They’re not even going to check in with those other r countries before they make a decision! Countries like Panama and Ecuador are okay with that, because, like we said…more stable prices and therefore, more stable economy. 

RYAN: So you’re saying countries can all decide to use one currency, not because they’ve all spent years negotiating how to join together under one currency, but because…it just kinda worked out that way? 

BRIDGET: Yeah, pretty much. Sometimes countries build a team and run a currency together, like the eurozone, but that takes A LOT OF cooperation. Other times, a country just decides to use someone else’s money instead, but they don’t get a say in any money decisions.

RYAN: So what are you saying, is it possible for the whole world to use the same currency or not??

BRIDGET: Let’s see what Professor Hannah Gabriel says.

HANNAH: It is theoretically possible, but it would require much more global cooperation than we see, as long as we have any two countries that are going to be at war with each other or issuing sanctions, or even just not getting along at all, or not wanting to trade, then, then we're not going to be able to have this workout.

RYAN: So step one, achieve world peace.

BRIDGET: Yeah, that’s gonna take a while…

HANNAH: But it would be cool to think about the ability to travel anywhere or buy anything from anyone without any sort of hurdles and it sounds great and convenient as someone who likes to travel and buy things around the world. But I’m not sure we’ll see that in the near future.

RYAN: I’m with Professor Gabriel. It’s cool to think about what that would look like. Bridget if you could design money that everyone in the world used, what would you put on it?

BRIDGET: Definitely some sort of bird, and I’ll probably make it Million Bazillion colors. What about you?

RYAN: I think it should be every single person in the world, holding hands across the bill. I guess that couldn’t fit on a dollar bill. Maybe our listeners also have some ideas. Let us know what you would put on a world currency. We’re at marketplace.org/million And you can also send us any other money questions you want us to answer while you’re there! 

BRIDGET: We’re going to put a link to the episode, “Why do countries have different currencies”  in our show notes and episode page for this episode so you can keep learning about the world of international currency!

RYAN: Don’t be a turkey, check it out!

BRIDGET: Ryan, you’re ruining this excellent episode!

RYAN: Don’t you mean eggcellent? 

BRIDGET: Gahh!

-THEME MUSIC-

RYAN: Million Bazillion is produced by Marketplace from American Public Media. This episode was written and produced by I-Yun Chan and hosted by me, Ryan Perez and Bridget Bodnar.

BRIDGET: Marissa Cabrera edited this episode and is our senior producer. Charlton Thorp did the mixing. 

RYAN: That’s it for this special mini episode. We’ll be back in your feeds again next week. And if you love the show, make sure you’re following us, leave us a rating, write a review, give us a thumbs up … you know the drill! See you next time, Million Bazillionaires.