Money
Why are Ecuadoreans obsessed with the $2 bill?
Journalist John Dennehy is obsessed with $2 bills — and so, it seems, are Ecuadoreans. While living in Ecuador, which officially uses the US dollar as its currency, Dennehy discovered that the bill is even rarer there than it is in the US, and it’s a prized good-luck charm to boot.
The Lion(s) Sleep Tonight
As we explore in our special Hip Deep episode, “The Money Show,” “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” is one of the most infamous cases of an African song being used for massive financial gain by the West. In 1939, Solomon Linda … Read more »
The Money Show
Every day, money changes hands in Ghanaian cedi, South African rand and Brazilian reals as music is created, traded, performed, purchased and pirated. In this episode we look at the business side of African music, through a series of vignettes … Read more »
The Economics of Champeta with Michael Birnbaum Quintero
In our upcoming special Hip Deep episode “The Money Show,” we explore the economics behind music in the African diaspora. In Chapter Two, we tell the story of how business competition between rival DJs in Cartagena, Colombia led to the … Read more »
China’s traditional New Year’s gift of cash for children now has a digital option
When families get together for Chinese New Year, one of the cherished traditions is giving and exchanging hongbao, red envelopes with cash. Rebecca Kanthor recently visited her husband’s family in China’s Henan province and learned the intricacies of these obligatory gifts.