Ecuadorian E-money
Economist Bill Black on Ecuador’s implementation of a digital currency. Ecuador adopted the U.S. dollar as its own currency back in the early 1990s, which … while it brought stability to what at the time was an untenable economic situation… has some drawbacks, which economists (like President Rafael Correa) are right to consider.
As Black argues, there’s nothing particularly radical about the plan (which, despite the “Socialist” label hung on Ecuador, is dependent on the private market), and — despite some media reports — is Ecuador in any sort of economic trouble which would suggest this is either a plan born out of desperation. One of the sillier articles I’ve seen (by some guy named Paul Tullis, who apparently writes for the New York Times and National Public Radio, so presumably knows how to do a news story) quotes one Johns Hopkins economist… not mentioning his ties to the “libertarian” (i.e., neo-liberal) Cato Institute, who worries that having a currency NOT controlled by the United States might mean Ecuador could make economic decisions based on their own interests. Which would seem to be the point.
