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. The proposal is supported by some economists, but is not likely to be enacted in the near future.
As well as calls for a currency for the Americas as a whole, in Canada discussions of a more limited crossborder 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 favour of the amero. Conversely, 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.
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.
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 all the other American nations combined, and monetary policy would thus inevitably be heavily tilted in favour of the United States.
External links
- Canada Should Pursue North American Currency Union (http://www.cdhowe.org/pdf/harris.pdf)
- Anti-Amero Article (http://www.nsi-ins.ca/ensi/news_views/oped19.html)
- Fraser Institute - The Case for the Amero (http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/critical_issues/1999/amero/section_01.html)