Swinging from hyperinflation to deflation, the value of Zimbabwe currency has created uncertainty for more than a decade.…
Deciding What is Real Money
While intuitively, we know the characteristics of money, when we receive a bent coin or a half of a dollar bill, we might wonder if we can spend it.…
An Artist Who Made Money
As an artist, a forger, or both, J.S.G. Boggs has made museums, colleges, Scotland Yard and the U.S. Secret Service decide what is fake money.…
The Money That Vegans Won’t Spend
Angering vegetarians, the U.K.’s new £5 note is an example of polymer currency that is made with a trace of meat in one of the materials that compose it.…
Random Currency Notes
Retaining Hamilton on the $10 and replacing Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 are currency redesign decisions that change and continue the past.…
Why a Dollar Coin Might Not Be Money
In the U.S. the Federal Reserve tried to introduce metal dollar coins into the money supply but currency demand indicates that people prefer paper.…
Why Russians Are Rushin' to Buy Porsches
Rather than saving during tough economic times, the Russians are spending because the ruble is displaying fewer characteristics of money.…
Laundering Zimbabwean money
In Zimbabwe, people are laundering money. Literally. When their U.S. dollars look too gray and faded, Zimbabweans wash and dry them. In this Wall Street Journal photo, dollar bills, shirts and sheets …