American currency union
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Currency union in the Americas is an idea based on the common European Union currency, the euro. The hypothetical American currency is sometimes referred to as the amero.
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[edit] Region
As well as calls for a currency for the Americas as a whole, in Canada discussions of a more limited cross-border currency union are common. The C.D. Howe Institute, one of Canada's leading economic think tanks, advocates the creation of a shared currency between Canada and the United States. The Fraser Institute, a leading conservative think tank, has also argued in favor of the amero. Herbert G. Grubel, a senior fellow of the Fraser Institute, came out with a book entitled The Case for the Amero in September 1999. Conversely, left-wing nationalist groups such as the Council of Canadians strongly oppose any move towards currency union as being extremely harmful for the Canadian economy and Canadian sovereignty.
[edit] Support
There are many lower levels of currency cooperation that have occurred in the Americas. A number of states – such as Argentina and Canada – have at times tied their currency to the United States dollar, and in 2000, Ecuador adopted the US dollar as its sole currency. In much of Central America and the Caribbean the US dollar is already a de facto secondary currency, and it serves as parallel legal tender in both Panama (since independence in 1903) and El Salvador (since 2001). Some pundits thus argue that currency union is all but inevitable, whether it is desired or not.
[edit] Criticism
A major obstacle to the creation of a unified currency is the sheer dominance of the United States in any such union. Unlike any state in Europe, the USA has a larger economy than the rest of North America combined. Differing cultural and social/economic objectives amongst the other western nations would be another point of contention[citation needed]. Another obstacle for the creation of an American Monetary Union would be getting the Central and South American nations to join.
[edit] See also
- Euro
- United States dollar
- Canadian dollar
- Mexican peso
- Money
- Inflation
- World currency
- Optimum currency area
- Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
- North American Union
- Mexifornia
