European Union

Maastricht Treaty
This site contains the text of the Maastricht Treaty which was signed in 1993 and ratified by the member countries in 1993.  This treaty commited the participating countries to a single European currency.

European Central Bank

This bank was established to implement and manage the euro. This site is a treasure trove of information about this most important single regional currency.

The euro

This is the official web site of the euro, from the site of the European Central Bank.

The “Euro Homepage” by Giancarlo Corsetti at Yale Univ., USA

This website has information about the euro, as assembled by Professor Corsetti who teaches at Yale and the University of Rome III.

Should the United Kingdom join the Euro?

One of the most comprehensive "yes" speeches is by Willem Buiter, of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.  His speeech, “Optimal Currency Areas: Why Does the Exchange Rate Regime Matter?” was given in 1999 at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Should Sweden have joined the Euro?

See the Swedish government’s web site about that country’s referendum at Sweden and the euro.

Other Monetary Unions

Asia Currency Union (in planning stage)

A meeting of the finance ministers of 15 European Union countries and China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, The Philipines and Japan approved a plan to work toward a single Asian currency.  The ministers considered the "Kobe Report" (to be considered later, perhaps as the equivalent of the European Delors Report) with its goals of a three step programme to lead to a single currency by the year 2030.

Central American Monetary Union Council (in English at IMF site)
The Central American Monetary Union Council was established in 1964 by the central banks of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, with the purpose "to promote the coordination of credit and exchange policies which would progressively form the basis of a Central American Monetary Union.  The above mentioned agreement was replaced by the Central American Monetary Agreement which became effective on October 25, 1974 and was modified on January 22, 1999. 

Another site, in Spanish, for the Central American Monetary Union is at www.secmca.org.

Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (Monetary authority for 8 countries)

This monetary union was created in 1983 and it manages the single common currency for eight Caribbean countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and The Grenadines.

Its charter is: "To maintain the stability of the EC dollar and the integrity of the banking system in order to facilitate the balanced growth and development of member states."

Gulf Cooperation Council Monetary Union

This site is the BBC News announcement of the plan by the six Arab Gulf states to ask the European Central Bank for guidance on how to implement a single regional currency.  The six states are Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.

The six states aim to achieve a monetary union by 2005 and a single currency by 2010.

For a Bahraini perspective on the GCC Monetary Union click on Bahraini Perspective

West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)

WAEMU was formed in 1994 with seven member countries: Benin, Burkima Faso, Ivory Coast,Guinea-Bissau, Mail, Niger, Senegal and Togo.  These countries share the CFA franc as their common currency, arising from their French colonial heritage.   The WAEMU succeeded an earlier union called the West Africa Monetary Union.  For a 1998 view of WAEMU from the IMF Deputy Director, see Statement by Alassane D. Ouattara

ECOWAS

Since 1994, other variations of African monetary unions have been considered.  In 2001, six members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, launched an ambitious initiative to set up a second monetary union and common currency in West Africa.  The plan was to create a common currency by January, 2004, but that date seems unattainable.  Seen an IMF interview with economist Paul Masson, for more info, Paul Masson Interview.

Generally on monetary union in Africa

For a 2002 presentation to the Central Bank of Nigeria on the topic of monetary union, with special reference to Africa, see The Challenge of Monetary Union: Gains and Opportunities by Chris Itsede.

For a contrary view on sub-Sahara African monetary union, see

"On the adequacy of Monetary Arrangements in Sub-Saharian Africa” by Agnes Benassy-Quere and Maylis Coupet.

Related Currency-Oriented Organizations

Centre Jouffroy
The Centre Jouffroy, in France, proposes a new non-national currency to be called the “New Bancor”, after the proposed name of John Maynard Keynes’ proposed single global currency at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, the "Bancor".

Global Resource Bank

 

Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee

The goal of the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee is to foster consultation between governments and markets that aimed at building a stable and sound international financial system by organizing regular events that bring together market players, government officials, and members of international organizations.

 

Related Non-Currency-oriented Organizations

The Globalist
This web site is "For global citizens. By global citizens."  It contains much current information about the world with separate sections for "hot topics", and "Countries and Regions".  There is a "Globalist Quiz" each day about a current global issue.

Online currency conversion calculations

Oanda
Oanda is one of the leading traders of foreign exchange. This site permits the conversion of 164 currencies into other currencies.

Reuters News Service

From the leading worldwide financial news service, this currency converter is a window to other information.

International monetary systems and currencies, generally           

Nouriel Roubini’s Global Macroeconomic and Financial Policy Site at the Stern School of Business, New York University

This site has an excellent selection of sites and information about macroeconomics and the international monetary system.  For a better understanding of the background to the single global currency, see the site’s section called Exchange Rates.

History of Global Currencies, up to the present

This is a page of the site of the "Global Financial Network", and it has three sub page: Introduction to the Global History of Currencies

Global History of Currencies Description by Country; and

Global History of Currencies Excel File Containing All Countries and Codes

Money – Past, Present & Future   by Roy Davies.

This is a marvelous web site for many aspects of money. It’s maintained by Roy Davies in the U.K., whose recently deceased father, Glyn Davies, was a scholar of money.  Roy’s sister, Linda Davies, writes "financial thrillers", so money is in the family’s blood.  His brother, John, is a Professor of Economics at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

De facto classification of exchange rate regimes (xls file)

by Eduardo Levy Yeyati and Federico Sturzenegger

This is a de facto Excel spreadsheet classification of exchange rate regimes covering 183 countries over the period 1974-2000. The methodology is described in detail in “A de facto Classification of Exchange Rate Regimes: A Methodological Note”,  and discussed in the paper “Classifying Exchange Rate Regimes: Deeds vs. Words.”

The Big Mac Index from the Economist

"The Economist’s Big Mac index seeks to make exchange-rate theory more digestible. It is arguably the world’s most accurate financial indicator to be based on a fast-food item."  The sites of the various surveys show the variations among nations of the cost of the Big Mac in local currency and as converted to the U.S. dollar.

Worldwide implementation of the Metric System.

The use of the metric system for measurements of distance, weight and size is nearly universal.  While its use is not required for a single global currency, the reasons for implementation are similar to those for the SGC: primarily, ease of use and elimination of costly conversions (i.e. exchange).  See the site of the U.S. Metric Association, as the United States is the major country not yet using the metric system as its primary system of measurement.

Of special interest is the page with a list of currencies which have converted from a non-decimal to a decimal system.   Primarily, these are countries which formerly used the old British system, with, for example, its 20 shillings for 1 pound and 12 pence for a shilling. Ironically, the United States pioneered the use of a 10-based or decimal currency with its dollar equaling 100 cents in 1786.

 

Complementary money systems.

The use of a single global currency is compatible with the continued use of various types of complementary money systems.  One type is called ‘corporate scrip’, such as those maintained by retailers.  In Canada, the most famous is the Canadian Tire Company’s use of Canadian Tire Money with denominations similar to those of the official Canadian dollar.  Frequent flier miles, maintained by most of the worlds’ airlines, are a type of complementary currency.

Bernard Lietaer’s Theory of Money (summarized on web) has an exhaustive review of the various types of complementary currency systems.  The review has numerous links to other relevant sites.

In Ithaca, New York, USA, the complementary currency called Ithaca Hours was started in 1991.  Each hour is valued at $10.00 U.S. and Ithaca Money is printed in denominations of two hours, one hour, one-half hours, one-quarter hour and one-eighth hour.

For information about other systems, click on Kuro5hin, which includes information about Bernard Lietaer and his book, The Future of Money, which extensively discusses complementary money systems.

For the view that private banks should be utilized more for the creation of money, see Why Private Banks and Not Central Banks Should Issue Currency, Especially in Less Developed Countries by Lawrence White and George Selgin.

See a list of resources on Free Banking and Monetary Economics for the view that money systems should be governed more by free market principles, such as having money systems compete with ech other like other goods and services.

For an alternate view of a global banking system based upon natural wealth, see the Global Resource Bank. 

 

Electronic Money Systems

Different types of e-money and cybercash are being developed.  For a thorough review of such systems, see Robert Guttmann’s Cybercash.  All such systems are compatible with the single global currency.

Visa

In a sense, "Visa" cards are a type of money. See an interview in "efinance insider", a "Visa" company publication with Sarah Perry; Director, Visa’s Strategic Investment Program.  She was asked, if Visa could be considered "the world’s first global currency", and she replied, "When Visa was founded 25 years ago, the founders saw the world as needing a single global currency for exchange. Everything we’ve done from a global perspective has been about trying to put one piece in place after another to fulfill that global vision. That’s why the name, speedy and consistent global systems, and ATMs were developed. It has been a wonderful thing to see this come to fruition." (efinance insider, April 17, 2001)

Science Fiction

There are many Sci-Fi books which include the vision of a single global currency.  When reading, remember that many of Jules Verne’s predictions came true.

Left Behind

The single global currency plays a role in this long-running, 11-volume science fiction saga by Jerry Jenkins, as presented in a recent book review of the latest book in the series, Armageddon.  The reviewer wrote: "Meanwhile, the rising Antichrist is Nicolae Carpathia, a handsome, urbane and lethally devious Romanian national who started his ascent to power as Secretary General of the United Nations (a longstanding object of fundamentalist wrath). Before long, Carpathia establishes himself as a global dictator and foists onto a gullible population a totalitarian, one-world government, a single global currency and a syncretic universal religion that combines Catholic-style pomp with New Age rhetoric." (The Nation, "An Empire of Their Own" by Melani McAlister, 22 September 2003)

Blueprint for a Prison Planet, by Nick Sandberg.

"…The ultimate goal being to bring about a single globalised marketplace, controlled by a world government, policed by a world army, financially regulated by a world bank via a single global currency, and populated by a microchipped population connected to a global computer…."

History of the Uplink World

"…In April 2007, after months of talks, the major governments of the world merged into a single International Government. The leaders of the government consisted of 2 people from each country, and although political lobbying on the parts of a majoring of the government members hindered the progress of changes, a few positive major changes were made. The currencies of the world were merged into a single global currency, which was simply known as Credits, and because everything was run by a single government, organisations like the FBI were able to operate more easily on a global scale and as a result, International crime dropped to almost non-existent levels."

Communauté globale

"The Communauté globale has not, as of yet, established a single global currency, like Earth Prime. However, there are only three major currencies, all of which are accepted almost everywhere in the Communauté globale. Exchange rates are usually fixed, with an approximate ratio of 1:3:12 between the Occidental franc, the Russian ruble, and the Japanese yen respectively. Off world currency is usually not accepted, though most banks will happily convert legitimate off world currencies into their Communauté globale counterparts."

Movies

The Omega Code was released in 1999, and starred Michael York.

"A marketing phenomenon, the picture was released to just 300 screens but rocketed to capture a spot on the top 10 box office list the week that it came out, thanks to local churches talking it up. The religious thriller, produced by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, can truly be called a thriller of apocalyptic proportions. Avoiding any sex, nudity and even a single “darn,” the film, except for its gun violence, was carefully crafted in an attempt to appeal to a family audience.
Described as a Buddha-like figure, Chairman Stone Alexander (Michael York) presents himself as a world savior. Responsible for world peace and for skyrocketing stock markets due to his revolutionary idea of a single global currency, Chairman Alexander will, nevertheless, prove to have some serious character flaws. As a clue to his true identity perhaps I should mention that strange bombings, food shortages and epidemics have recently been striking the planet…." (Review by Steve Rhodes)

Rogue Trader

This movie is about how a Barings Bros. Bank currency trader, Nick Leeson, made mistakes which would have cost his customers millions.   To make up for the mistakes, he made more and more curency gambles and lost billions.  As a result Baring Bros. was closed and its remaining assets closed.  For a review, see Rogue Trader.  The film shows a world where huge sums of money are traded daily (and won and lost daily) to support the current, but obsolete currency exchange system.  With a single global currency the movie would have not have been about currency trading, but some other medium of speculation.

Poetry and Novels

The poem, "Politics for Peace" by Edward Graham MacFarlane of Scotland, includes the lines,

     "SO THAT THERE WILL BE UNDERSTANDING EVERYWHERE.
AND A SINGLE GLOBAL CURRENCY to give easier traded global fare.
    All mankind will be much happier, Better watered , better fed,
Supplied with global products to enchant every sort of human head"

Money Museums

Money Museum (in Zurich)
This museum contains collections of coins and bills, primarily from Europe.

 

Currency as Art

One of the results of implementing a single global currency is that there will be less diversity of design of coins and bills.  Some of that effect may be ameliorated by allowing some parts of the coins and bills to vary with each country having their own designs.   This is what is done currently with the euro and with quarter-dollar coins in the U.S. where each of 50 states has a customized side of the coin.  For more discussion of currency as art see an article, "Bills sport nations’ selling points" by David Standish, author of "The Art of Money", where he laments the potential above-mentioned loss of diversity in design. 

He wrote, "We should enjoy the diversity of the remaining world paper currencies while we can. They may be becoming obsolete. More and more financial transactions are entirely electronic.

Credit cards are taking over. There are even new ersatz currencies like airline miles. Certain South American countries are trying out “dollarizing” – eliminating their own local paper currency in favor of simply using U.S. dollars.

The euro may simply be the wave of the future. In 20 years, all the currencies of North and South America may be consolidated into the amera. And 50 years after that, there may be just one single global currency: the ‘worldo.’ "

The Single Global Currency Association is soliciting proposals for designs of the new currency.  See the page in this site at Feedback on SGC Designs.

 

The Single Global Currency and Religion

There are groups whose members believe that the single global currency is part of some religious prophecy.  While there is absolutely no truth to such fantasy, there seems to be a lot of web space filled by these groups. 

See The Cutting Edge.

A sample quote: "Setting The Stage For the Prophesied Global Currency and Economy  — In Revelation 13:16-17, we see that the economy of the world must have become global, with unprecedented dictatorial control, and that the money must have become cashless. Listen to the prophecy. ‘And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.’ "

Gary Kah, from Indiana, USA, has a religion-based view that the single global currency is part of a world-wide conspiracy:

"….In the mid 1980’s, Gary stumbled onto some information about the United States printing a “new currency”. After some investigation, he found that many countries around the world had already begun issuing new currencies similar in design. Gary discovered that this coordinated effort was merely a stepping stone toward establishing a single, global currency–which was to be part of a coming one-world government."