United States dollar

A pile of American two-dollar bills, which are relatively rare everywhere the currency is used.

Why are Ecuadoreans obsessed with the $2 bill?

Economics

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.

Rosa Parks is a candidate for the first woman on the $20 bill

Fighting to put a woman on the $20 bill

Culture
Jose Luis Farrera (with his sons) runs a newsstand in Venezuela. But business is down, because he can't get enough newspapers.

First toilet paper, now Venezuela is running out of newsprint

U.S. Congress reopens debate over replacing dollar bills with coins

Global Politics

New Zealand debuts Hobbit-themed currency as movie anticipation builds

Arts, Culture & Media

As Canada says goodbye to its penny, Americans ponder their own one cent piece

Global Politics

Starting this fall, Canada will stop making and distributing its pennies. Electronic transactions can still include prices in one-cent intervals, but cash transactions will be rounded up and down to the nearest five cents. It’s an effort to cut costs because the penny costs more to make than its worth.

The Push to Ditch the Dollar Bill for Coins

Global Politics

A bipartisan group of senators is reviving an old idea: ditching the dollar bill. They say it’s time we caught up with the rest of the world.

Is Abe Lincoln Safe?

Today marks the last day the Royal Canadian Mint will distribute the penny, a coin that has been in production in Canada for more than 150 years.  The sinking of the Canadian penny is a recognition of the reality that it  costs  of 1.6 cents to manufacture a penny, and that many people consider them more of a […]

Can We Survive Without the Penny?

Canada’s decision to stop producing its penny has launched a discussion in the U.S. In Canada, it costs 1.6 cents to produce a penny – so getting rid of the coin will save the country an estimated 11 million Canadian dollars a year. Meanwhile, in the United States it costs 2.4 cents to make a […]

Gold Hits All-Time High on Inflation Speculation

Wednesday, the price of gold hit an all-time high, costing buyers over $1450 per ounce. Part of the reason for the rise in price is a fear of inflation, uncertainty about the situation in the Middle East, and the weakness of the U.S. dollar and the Euro. But another factor driving up the price of […]