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United States dollar

The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD; also abbreviated US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it into 100 cents, and authorized the minting of coins denominated in dollars and cents. U.S. banknotes are issued in the form of Federal Reserve Notes, popularly called greenbacks due to their predominantly green color.

United States dollar
ISO 4217
CodeUSD (numeric: 840)
Subunit0.01
Unit
Symbol$, US$, U$
Nickname
List
Denominations
Superunit
 10Eagle
Subunit
110Dime
1100Cent
11000Mill
Symbol
Cent¢
Mill
Banknotes
 Freq. used$1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100
 Rarely used$2 (still printed); $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 (discontinued, still legal tender)
Coins
 Freq. used, , 10¢, 25¢
 Rarely used50¢, $1 (still minted); 12¢, , , 20¢, $2.50, $3, $5, $10, $20 (discontinued, but still legal tender)
Demographics
Date of introductionApril 2, 1792; 231 years ago (1792-04-02)[1]
ReplacedContinental currency
Various foreign currencies, including:
Pound sterling
Spanish dollar
User(s)see § Formal (11), § Informal (7)
Issuance
Central bankFederal Reserve
 Websitefederalreserve.gov
PrinterBureau of Engraving and Printing
 Websitewww.bep.gov
MintUnited States Mint
 Websiteusmint.gov
Valuation
Inflation3.4%
 Source[1], December 2023
 MethodCPI
Pegged bysee § Pegged currencies

The monetary policy of the United States is conducted by the Federal Reserve System, which acts as the nation's central bank.

The U.S. dollar was originally defined under a bimetallic standard of 371.25 grains (24.057 g) (0.7735 troy ounces) fine silver or, from 1837, 23.22 grains (1.505 g) fine gold, or $20.67 per troy ounce. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 linked the dollar solely to gold. From 1934, its equivalence to gold was revised to $35 per troy ounce. Since 1971, all links to gold have been repealed.[2]

The U.S. dollar became an important international reserve currency after the First World War, and displaced the pound sterling as the world's primary reserve currency by the Bretton Woods Agreement towards the end of the Second World War. The dollar is the most widely used currency in international transactions,[3] and a free-floating currency. It is also the official currency in several countries and the de facto currency in many others,[4][5] with Federal Reserve Notes (and, in a few cases, U.S. coins) used in circulation.

As of February 10, 2021, currency in circulation amounted to US$2.10 trillion, $2.05 trillion of which is in Federal Reserve Notes (the remaining $50 billion is in the form of coins and older-style United States Notes).[6]

As of September 20, 2023, the Federal Reserve estimated that the total amount of currency in circulation was approximately US$2.33 trillion.[7]

Overview edit

In the Constitution edit

Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution provides that Congress has the power "[t]o coin money."[8] Laws implementing this power are currently codified in Title 31 of the U.S. Code, under Section 5112, which prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued.[9] These coins are both designated in the section as "legal tender" in payment of debts.[9] The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, in contrast to the American Silver Eagle which is pure silver. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins, which have values ranging from one cent (U.S. Penny) to 100 dollars.[9] These other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar.

Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution provides that "a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time",[10] which is further specified by Section 331 of Title 31 of the U.S. Code.[11] The sums of money reported in the "Statements" are currently expressed in U.S. dollars, thus the U.S. dollar may be described as the unit of account of the United States.[12] "Dollar" is one of the first words of Section 9, in which the term refers to the Spanish milled dollar, or the coin worth eight Spanish reales.

Coinage Act edit

In 1792, the U.S. Congress passed the Coinage Act, of which Section 9 authorized the production of various coins, including:[13]: 248 

Dollars or Units—each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy-one grains and four sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver.

Section 20 of the Act designates the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States:[13]: 250–1 

[T]he money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units...and that all accounts in the public offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation.

Decimal units edit

Unlike the Spanish milled dollar, the Continental Congress and the Coinage Act prescribed a decimal system of units to go with the unit dollar, as follows:[14][15] the mill, or one-thousandth of a dollar; the cent, or one-hundredth of a dollar; the dime, or one-tenth of a dollar; and the eagle, or ten dollars. The current relevance of these units:

  • Only the cent (¢) is used as everyday division of the dollar.
  • The dime is used solely as the name of the coin with the value of 10 cents.
  • The mill () is relatively unknown, but before the mid-20th century was familiarly used in matters of sales taxes, as well as gasoline prices, which are usually in the form of $ΧΧ.ΧΧ9 per gallon (e.g., $3.599, commonly written as $3.59+910).[16][17]
  • The eagle is also largely unknown to the general public.[17] This term was used in the Coinage Act of 1792 for the denomination of ten dollars, and subsequently was used in naming gold coins.

The Spanish peso or dollar was historically divided into eight reales (colloquially, bits) – hence pieces of eight. Americans also learned counting in non-decimal bits of 12+12 cents before 1857 when Mexican bits were more frequently encountered than American cents; in fact this practice survived in New York Stock Exchange quotations until 2001.[18][19]

In 1854, Secretary of the Treasury James Guthrie proposed creating $100, $50, and $25 gold coins, to be referred to as a union, half union, and quarter union, respectively,[20] thus implying a denomination of 1 Union = $100. However, no such coins were ever struck, and only patterns for the $50 half union exist.

When currently issued in circulating form, denominations less than or equal to a dollar are emitted as U.S. coins, while denominations greater than or equal to a dollar are emitted as Federal Reserve Notes, disregarding these special cases:

  • Gold coins issued for circulation until the 1930s, up to the value of $20 (known as the double eagle)
  • Bullion or commemorative gold, silver, platinum, and palladium coins valued up to $100 as legal tender (though worth far more as bullion).
  • Civil War paper currency issue in denominations below $1, i.e. fractional currency, sometimes pejoratively referred to as shinplasters.

Etymology edit

In the 16th century, Count Hieronymus Schlick of Bohemia began minting coins known as joachimstalers, named for Joachimstal, the valley in which the silver was mined. In turn, the valley's name is titled after Saint Joachim, whereby thal or tal, a cognate of the English word dale, is German for 'valley.'[21] The joachimstaler was later shortened to the German taler, a word that eventually found its way into many languages, including:[21]tolar (Czech, Slovak and Slovenian); daler (Danish and Swedish); dalar and daler (Norwegian); daler or daalder (Dutch); talari (Ethiopian); tallér (Hungarian); tallero (Italian); دولار (Arabic); and dollar (English).

Though the Dutch pioneered in modern-day New York in the 17th century the use and the counting of money in silver dollars in the form of German-Dutch reichsthalers and native Dutch leeuwendaalders ('lion dollars'), it was the ubiquitous Spanish American eight-real coin which became exclusively known as the dollar since the 18th century.[22]

Nicknames edit

The colloquialism buck(s) (much like the British quid for the pound sterling) is often used to refer to dollars of various nations, including the U.S. dollar. This term, dating to the 18th century, may have originated with the colonial leather trade, or it may also have originated from a poker term.[23]

Greenback is another nickname, originally applied specifically to the 19th-century Demand Note dollars, which were printed black and green on the backside, created by Abraham Lincoln to finance the North for the Civil War.[24] It is still used to refer to the U.S. dollar (but not to the dollars of other countries). The term greenback is also used by the financial press in other countries, such as Australia,[25] New Zealand,[26] South Africa,[27] and India.[28]

Other well-known names of the dollar as a whole in denominations include greenmail, green, and dead presidents, the latter of which referring to the deceased presidents pictured on most bills. Dollars in general have also been known as bones (e.g. "twenty bones" = $20). The newer designs, with portraits displayed in the main body of the obverse (rather than in cameo insets), upon paper color-coded by denomination, are sometimes referred to as bigface notes or Monopoly money.[citation needed]

Piastre was the original French word for the U.S. dollar, used for example in the French text of the Louisiana Purchase. Though the U.S. dollar is called dollar in Modern French, the term piastre is still used among the speakers of Cajun French and New England French, as well as speakers in Haiti and other French-speaking Caribbean islands.

Nicknames specific to denomination:

  • The quarter dollar coin is known as two bits, alluding the dollar's origins as the "piece of eight" (bits or reales).[18]
  • The $1 bill is nicknamed buck or single.
  • The infrequently-used $2 bill is sometimes called deuce, Tom, or Jefferson (after Thomas Jefferson).
  • The $5 bill is sometimes called Lincoln (after Abraham Lincoln), fin, fiver, or five-spot.
  • The $10 bill is sometimes called sawbuck, ten-spot, or Hamilton (after Alexander Hamilton).
  • The $20 bill is sometimes called double sawbuck, Jackson (after Andrew Jackson), or double eagle.
  • The $50 bill is sometimes called a yardstick, or a grant, after President Ulysses S. Grant.
  • The $100 bill is called Benjamin, Benji, Ben, or Franklin, referring to its portrait of Benjamin Franklin. Other nicknames include C-note (C being the Roman numeral for 100), century note, or bill (e.g. two bills = $200).
  • Amounts or multiples of $1,000 are sometimes called grand in colloquial speech, abbreviated in written form to G, K, or k (from kilo; e.g. $10k = $10,000). Likewise, a large or stack can also refer to a multiple of $1,000 (e.g. "fifty large" = $50,000).

Dollar sign edit

 
Spanish silver eight-real or peso of 1768

The symbol $, usually written before the numerical amount, is used for the U.S. dollar (as well as for many other currencies). The sign was the result of a late 18th-century evolution of the scribal abbreviation ps for the peso, the common name for the Spanish dollars that were in wide circulation in the New World from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The p and the s eventually came to be written over each other giving rise to $.[29][30][31][32]

Another popular explanation is that it is derived from the Pillars of Hercules on the Spanish Coat of arms of the Spanish dollar. These Pillars of Hercules on the silver Spanish dollar coins take the form of two vertical bars (||) and a swinging cloth band in the shape of an S.[citation needed]

Yet another explanation suggests that the dollar sign was formed from the capital letters U and S written or printed one on top of the other. This theory, popularized by novelist Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged,[33] does not consider the fact that the symbol was already in use before the formation of the United States.[34]

History edit

Origins: the Spanish dollar edit

The U.S. dollar was introduced at par with the Spanish-American silver dollar (or Spanish peso, Spanish milled dollar, eight-real coin, piece-of-eight). The latter was produced from the rich silver mine output of Spanish America, was minted in Mexico City, Potosí (Bolivia), Lima (Peru), and elsewhere, and was in wide circulation throughout the Americas, Asia, and Europe from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The minting of machine-milled Spanish dollars since 1732 boosted its worldwide reputation as a trade coin and positioned it to be the model for the new currency of the United States.[citation needed]

Even after the United States Mint commenced issuing coins in 1792, locally minted dollars and cents were less abundant in circulation than Spanish American pesos and reales; hence Spanish, Mexican, and American dollars all remained legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of 1857. In particular, colonists' familiarity with the Spanish two-real quarter peso was the reason for issuing a quasi-decimal 25-cent quarter dollar coin rather than a 20-cent coin.[citation needed]

For the relationship between the Spanish dollar and the individual state colonial currencies, see Connecticut pound, Delaware pound, Georgia pound, Maryland pound, Massachusetts pound, New Hampshire pound, New Jersey pound, New York pound, North Carolina pound, Pennsylvania pound, Rhode Island pound, South Carolina pound, and Virginia pound.[citation needed]

Coinage Act of 1792 edit

 
Alexander Hamilton finalized the details of the 1792 Coinage Act and the establishment of the U.S. Mint.

On July 6, 1785, the Continental Congress resolved that the money unit of the United States, the dollar, would contain 375.64 grains of fine silver; on August 8, 1786, the Continental Congress continued that definition and further resolved that the money of account, corresponding with the division of coins, would proceed in a decimal ratio, with the sub-units being mills at 0.001 of a dollar, cents at 0.010 of a dollar, and dimes at 0.100 of a dollar.[14]

After the adoption of the United States Constitution, the U.S. dollar was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792. It specified a "dollar" based on the Spanish milled dollar to contain 371+416 grains of fine silver, or 416.0 grains (26.96 g) of "standard silver" of fineness 371.25/416 = 89.24%; as well as an "eagle" to contain 247+48 grains of fine gold, or 270.0 grains (17.50 g) of 22 karat or 91.67% fine gold.[35] Alexander Hamilton arrived at these numbers based on a treasury assay of the average fine silver content of a selection of worn Spanish dollars, which came out to be 371 grains. Combined with the prevailing gold-silver ratio of 15, the standard for gold was calculated at 371/15 = 24.73 grains fine gold or 26.98 grains 22K gold. Rounding the latter to 27.0 grains finalized the dollar's standard to 24.75 grains of fine gold or 24.75*15 = 371.25 grains = 24.0566 grams = 0.7735 troy ounces of fine silver.

The same coinage act also set the value of an eagle at 10 dollars, and the dollar at 110 eagle. It called for silver coins in denominations of 1, 12, 14, 110, and 120 dollar, as well as gold coins in denominations of 1, 12 and 14 eagle. The value of gold or silver contained in the dollar was then converted into relative value in the economy for the buying and selling of goods. This allowed the value of things to remain fairly constant over time, except for the influx and outflux of gold and silver in the nation's economy.[36]

Though a Spanish dollar freshly minted after 1772 theoretically contained 417.7 grains of silver of fineness 130/144 (or 377.1 grains fine silver), reliable assays of the period in fact confirmed a fine silver content of 370.95 grains (24.037 g) for the average Spanish dollar in circulation. [37] The new U.S. silver dollar of 371.25 grains (24.057 g) therefore compared favorably and was received at par with the Spanish dollar for foreign payments, and after 1803 the United States Mint had to suspend making this coin out of its limited resources since it failed to stay in domestic circulation. It was only after Mexican independence in 1821 when their peso's fine silver content of 377.1 grains was firmly upheld, which the U.S. later had to compete with using a heavier 378.0 grains (24.49 g) Trade dollar coin.

Design edit

The early currency of the United States did not exhibit faces of presidents, as is the custom now;[38] although today, by law, only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency.[39] In fact, the newly formed government was against having portraits of leaders on the currency, a practice compared to the policies of European monarchs.[40] The currency as we know it today did not get the faces they currently have until after the early 20th century; before that "heads" side of coinage used profile faces and striding, seated, and standing figures from Greek and Roman mythology and composite Native Americans. The last coins to be converted to profiles of historic Americans were the dime (1946) and the Dollar (1971).

Continental currency edit

 
Continental one third dollar bill (obverse)

After the American Revolution, the Thirteen Colonies became independent. Freed from British monetary regulations, they each issued £sd paper money to pay for military expenses. The Continental Congress also began issuing "Continental Currency" denominated in Spanish dollars. For its value relative to states' currencies, see Early American currency.

Continental currency depreciated badly during the war, giving rise to the famous phrase "not worth a continental".[41] A primary problem was that monetary policy was not coordinated between Congress and the states, which continued to issue bills of credit. Additionally, neither Congress nor the governments of the several states had the will or the means to retire the bills from circulation through taxation or the sale of bonds.[42] The currency was ultimately replaced by the silver dollar at the rate of 1 silver dollar to 1000 continental dollars. This resulted in the clause "No state shall... make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts" being written into the United States Constitution article 1, section 10.

Silver and gold standards, 19th century edit

From implementation of the 1792 Mint Act to the 1900 implementation of the gold standard the dollar was on a bimetallic silver-and-gold standard, defined as either 371.25 grains (24.056 g) of fine silver or 24.75 grains of fine gold (gold-silver ratio 15).

Subsequent to the Coinage Act of 1834 the dollar's fine gold equivalent was revised to 23.2 grains; it was slightly adjusted to 23.22 grains (1.505 g) in 1837 (gold-silver ratio ~16). The same act also resolved the difficulty in minting the "standard silver" of 89.24% fineness by revising the dollar's alloy to 412.5 grains, 90% silver, still containing 371.25 grains fine silver. Gold was also revised to 90% fineness: 25.8 grains gross, 23.22 grains fine gold.

Following the rise in the price of silver during the California Gold Rush and the disappearance of circulating silver coins, the Coinage Act of 1853 reduced the standard for silver coins less than $1 from 412.5 grains to 384 grains (24.9 g), 90% silver per 100 cents (slightly revised to 25.0 g, 90% silver in 1873). The Act also limited the free silver right of individuals to convert bullion into only one coin, the silver dollar of 412.5 grains; smaller coins of lower standard can only be produced by the United States Mint using its own bullion.

Summary and links to coins issued in the 19th century:

Note issues, 19th century edit

 
Series of 1917 $1 United States Note

In order to finance the War of 1812, Congress authorized the issuance of Treasury Notes, interest-bearing short-term debt that could be used to pay public dues. While they were intended to serve as debt, they did function "to a limited extent" as money. Treasury Notes were again printed to help resolve the reduction in public revenues resulting from the Panic of 1837 and the Panic of 1857, as well as to help finance the Mexican–American War and the Civil War.

Paper money was issued again in 1862 without the backing of precious metals due to the Civil War. In addition to Treasury Notes, Congress in 1861 authorized the Treasury to borrow $50 million in the form of Demand Notes, which did not bear interest but could be redeemed on demand for precious metals. However, by December 1861, the Union government's supply of specie was outstripped by demand for redemption and they were forced to suspend redemption temporarily. In February 1862 Congress passed the Legal Tender Act of 1862, issuing United States Notes, which were not redeemable on demand and bore no interest, but were legal tender, meaning that creditors had to accept them at face value for any payment except for public debts and import tariffs. However, silver and gold coins continued to be issued, resulting in the depreciation of the newly printed notes through Gresham's Law. In 1869, Supreme Court ruled in Hepburn v. Griswold that Congress could not require creditors to accept United States Notes, but overturned that ruling the next year in the Legal Tender Cases. In 1875, Congress passed the Specie Payment Resumption Act, requiring the Treasury to allow U.S. Notes to be redeemed for gold after January 1, 1879.

Gold standard, 20th century edit

 
Gold double eagle ($20 coin), 1907

Though the dollar came under the gold standard de jure only after 1900, the bimetallic era was ended de facto when the Coinage Act of 1873 suspended the minting of the standard silver dollar of 412.5 Troy grains = 26.73 g; 0.859 ozt, the only fully legal tender coin that individuals could convert bullion into in unlimited (or Free silver) quantities,[a] and right at the onset of the silver rush from the Comstock Lode in the 1870s. This was the so-called "Crime of '73".

The Gold Standard Act of 1900 repealed the U.S. dollar's historic link to silver and defined it solely as 23.22 grains (1.505 g) of fine gold (or $20.67 per troy ounce of 480 grains). In 1933, gold coins were confiscated by Executive Order 6102 under Franklin D. Roosevelt, and in 1934 the standard was changed to $35 per troy ounce fine gold, or 13.71 grains (0.888 g) per dollar.

After 1968 a series of revisions to the gold peg was implemented, culminating in the Nixon Shock of August 15, 1971, which suddenly ended the convertibility of dollars to gold. The U.S. dollar has since floated freely on the foreign exchange markets.[citation needed]

Federal Reserve Notes, 20th century to present edit

 
Obverse of a rare 1934 $500 Federal Reserve Note, featuring a portrait of President William McKinley
 
Reverse of a $500 Federal Reserve Note

Congress continued to issue paper money after the Civil War, the latest of which is the Federal Reserve Note that was authorized by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Since the discontinuation of all other types of notes (Gold Certificates in 1933, Silver Certificates in 1963, and United States Notes in 1971), U.S. dollar notes have since been issued exclusively as Federal Reserve Notes.

Emergence as reserve currency edit

 
John Maynard Keynes (right) and Harry Dexter White at the inaugural meeting of the International Monetary Fund in 1946. They were instrumental in drafting the provisions of the post-war global financial system.

The U.S. dollar first emerged as an important international reserve currency in the 1920s, displacing the British pound sterling as it emerged from the First World War relatively unscathed and since the United States was a significant recipient of wartime gold inflows. After the United States emerged as an even stronger global superpower during the Second World War, the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 established the U.S. dollar as the world's primary reserve currency and the only post-war currency linked to gold. Despite all links to gold being severed in 1971, the dollar continues to be the world's foremost reserve currency for international trade to this day.

The Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 also defined the post-World War II monetary order and relations among modern-day independent states, by setting up a system of rules, institutions, and procedures to regulate the international monetary system. The agreement founded the International Monetary Fund and other institutions of the modern-day World Bank Group, establishing the infrastructure for conducting international payments and accessing the global capital markets using the U.S. dollar.

The monetary policy of the United States is conducted by the Federal Reserve System, which acts as the nation's central bank. It was founded in 1913 under the Federal Reserve Act in order to furnish an elastic currency for the United States and to supervise its banking system, particularly in the aftermath of the Panic of 1907.

For most of the post-war period, the U.S. government has financed its own spending by borrowing heavily from the dollar-lubricated global capital markets, in debts denominated in its own currency and at minimal interest rates. This ability to borrow heavily without facing a significant balance of payments crisis has been described as the United States's exorbitant privilege.

Coins edit

The United States Mint has issued legal tender coins every year from 1792 to the present. From 1934 to the present, the only denominations produced for circulation have been the familiar penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar.

Denomination Common name Obverse Reverse Obverse portrait and design date Reverse motif and design date Weight Diameter Material Edge Circulation
Cent
penny   Abraham Lincoln (1909) Union Shield (2010) 2.5 g
(0.088 oz)
0.75 in
(19.05 mm)
97.5% Zn covered by 2.5% Cu Plain Wide
Five cents
nickel     Thomas Jefferson (2006) Monticello (1938) 5.0 g
(0.176 oz)
0.835 in
(21.21 mm)
75% Cu
25% Ni
Plain Wide
Ten cents
10¢
dime   Franklin D. Roosevelt (1946) Olive branch, torch, and oak branch (1946) 2.268 g
(0.08 oz)
0.705 in
(17.91 mm)
91.67% Cu
8.33% Ni
118 reeds Wide
Quarter dollar
25¢
quarter     George Washington (1932) Various (5 designs per year) 5.67 g
(0.2 oz)
0.955 in
(24.26 mm)
91.67% Cu
8.33% Ni
119 reeds Wide
Half dollar
50¢
half dollar     John F. Kennedy (1964) Presidential Seal (1964) 11.34 g
(0.4 oz)
1.205 in
(30.61 mm)
91.67% Cu
8.33% Ni
150 reeds Limited
Dollar coin
$1
dollar coin, golden dollar     Sacagawea

(2000)

Various (4 designs per year) 8.10 g
(0.286 oz)
1.043 in
(26.50 mm)
88.5% Cu
6% Zn
3.5% Mn
2% Ni
Plain 2000–2006
Lettered 2007–Present
Limited
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the coin specification table.

Gold and silver coins have been previously minted for general circulation from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The last gold coins were minted in 1933. The last 90% silver coins were minted in 1964, and the last 40% silver half dollar was minted in 1970.

The United States Mint currently produces circulating coins at the Philadelphia and Denver Mints, and commemorative and proof coins for collectors at the San Francisco and West Point Mints. Mint mark conventions for these and for past mint branches are discussed in Coins of the United States dollar#Mint marks.

The one-dollar coin has never been in popular circulation from 1794 to present, despite several attempts to increase their usage since the 1970s, the most important reason of which is the continued production and popularity of the one-dollar bill.[43] Half dollar coins were commonly used currency since inception in 1794, but has fallen out of use from the mid-1960s when all silver half dollars began to be hoarded.

The nickel is the only coin whose size and composition (5 grams, 75% copper, and 25% nickel) is still in use from 1865 to today, except for wartime 1942–1945 Jefferson nickels which contained silver.

Due to the penny's low value, some efforts have been made to eliminate the penny as circulating coinage. [44][45]

For a discussion of other discontinued and canceled denominations, see Obsolete denominations of United States currency and Canceled denominations of United States currency.

Collector coins edit

Collector coins are technically legal tender at face value but are usually worth far more due to their numismatic value or for their precious metal content. These include:

Banknotes edit

Denomination Front Reverse Portrait Reverse motif First series Latest series Circulation
One dollar     George Washington Great Seal of the United States Series 1963[b]
Series 1935[c]
Series 2017A[46] Wide
Two dollars     Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull Series 1976 Series 2017A Limited[47]
Five dollars     Abraham Lincoln Lincoln Memorial Series 2006 Series 2021[48] Wide
Ten dollars     Alexander Hamilton Treasury Building Series 2004A Series 2017A Wide
Twenty dollars     Andrew Jackson White House Series 2004 Series 2017A Wide
Fifty dollars     Ulysses S. Grant United States Capitol Series 2004 Series 2017A Wide
One hundred dollars     Benjamin Franklin Independence Hall Series 2009A[49] Series 2017A Wide

The U.S. Constitution provides that Congress shall have the power to "borrow money on the credit of the United States."[50] Congress has exercised that power by authorizing Federal Reserve Banks to issue Federal Reserve Notes. Those notes are "obligations of the United States" and "shall be redeemed in lawful money on demand at the Treasury Department of the United States, in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, or at any Federal Reserve bank".[51] Federal Reserve Notes are designated by law as "legal tender" for the payment of debts.[52] Congress has also authorized the issuance of more than 10 other types of banknotes, including the United States Note[53] and the Federal Reserve Bank Note. The Federal Reserve Note is the only type that remains in circulation since the 1970s. Federal Reserve Notes are printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and are made from cotton fiber paper (as opposed to wood fiber used to make common paper). The "large-sized notes" issued before 1928 measured 7.42 in × 3.125 in (188.5 mm × 79.4 mm), while small-sized notes introduced that year measure 6.14 in × 2.61 in × 0.0043 in (155.96 mm × 66.29 mm × 0.11 mm).[54] The dimensions of the modern (small-size) U.S. currency is identical to the size of Philippine peso banknotes issued under United States administration after 1903, which had proven highly successful.[55] The American large-note bills became known as "horse blankets" or "saddle blankets".[56] Currently printed denominations are $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. Notes above the $100 denomination stopped being printed in 1946 and were officially withdrawn from circulation in 1969. These notes were used primarily in inter-bank transactions or by organized crime; it was the latter usage that prompted President Richard Nixon to issue an executive order in 1969 halting their use. With the advent of electronic banking, they became less necessary. Notes in denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, and $100,000 were all produced at one time; see large denomination bills in U.S. currency for details. With the exception of the $100,000 bill (which was only issued as a Series 1934 Gold Certificate and was never publicly circulated; thus it is illegal to own), these notes are now collectors' items and are worth more than their face value to collectors.

Though still predominantly green, the post-2004 series incorporate other colors to better distinguish different denominations. As a result of a 2008 decision in an accessibility lawsuit filed by the American Council of the Blind, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is planning to implement a raised tactile feature in the next redesign of each note, except the $1 and the current version of the $100 bill. It also plans larger, higher-contrast numerals, more color differences, and distribution of currency readers to assist the visually impaired during the transition period.[d]

Countries that use US dollar edit

Formal edit

Informal edit

Monetary policy edit

 
The Headquarters of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.

The Federal Reserve Act created the Federal Reserve System in 1913 as the central bank of the United States. Its primary task is to conduct the nation's monetary policy to promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates in the U.S. economy. It is also tasked to promote the stability of the financial system and regulate financial institutions, and to act as lender of last resort.[65][66]

The Monetary policy of the United States is conducted by the Federal Open Market Committee, which is composed of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and 5 out of the 12 Federal Reserve Bank presidents, and is implemented by all twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks.

Monetary policy refers to actions made by central banks that determine the size and growth rate of the money supply available in the economy, and which would result in desired objectives like low inflation, low unemployment, and stable financial systems. The economy's aggregate money supply is the total of

  • M0 money, or Monetary Base – "dollars" in currency and bank money balances credited to the central bank's depositors, which are backed by the central bank's assets,
  • plus M1, M2, M3 money – "dollars" in the form of bank money balances credited to banks' depositors, which are backed by the bank's assets and investments.

The FOMC influences the level of money available to the economy by the following means:

  • Reserve requirements – specifies a required minimum percentage of deposits in a commercial bank that should be held as a reserve (i.e. as deposits with the Federal Reserve), with the rest available to loan or invest. Higher requirements mean less money loaned or invested, helping keep inflation in check. Raising the federal funds rate earned on those reserves also helps achieve this objective.
  • Open market operations – the Federal Reserve buys or sells US Treasury bonds and other securities held by banks in exchange for reserves; more reserves increase a bank's capacity to loan or invest elsewhere.
  • Discount window lending – banks can borrow from the Federal Reserve.

Monetary policy directly affects interest rates; it indirectly affects stock prices, wealth, and currency exchange rates. Through these channels, monetary policy influences spending, investment, production, employment, and inflation in the United States. Effective monetary policy complements fiscal policy to support economic growth.

The adjusted monetary base has increased from approximately $400 billion in 1994, to $800 billion in 2005, and to over $3 trillion in 2013.[67]

When the Federal Reserve makes a purchase, it credits the seller's reserve account (with the Federal Reserve). This money is not transferred from any existing funds—it is at this point that the Federal Reserve has created new high-powered money. Commercial banks then decide how much money to keep in deposit with the Federal Reserve and how much to hold as physical currency. In the latter case, the Federal Reserve places an order for printed money from the U.S. Treasury Department.[68] The Treasury Department, in turn, sends these requests to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (to print new dollar bills) and the Bureau of the Mint (to stamp the coins).

The Federal Reserve's monetary policy objectives to keep prices stable and unemployment low is often called the dual mandate. This replaces past practices under a gold standard where the main concern is the gold equivalent of the local currency, or under a gold exchange standard where the concern is fixing the exchange rate versus another gold-convertible currency (previously practiced worldwide under the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 via fixed exchange rates to the U.S. dollar).

International use as reserve currency edit

 
Worldwide use of the U.S. dollar:
  United States
  External adopters of the US dollar
  Currencies pegged to the US dollar
  Currencies pegged to the US dollar w/ narrow band
Worldwide use of the euro:
  External adopters of the euro
  Currencies pegged to the euro
  Currencies pegged to the euro w/ narrow band

Ascendancy edit

The primary currency used for global trade between Europe, Asia, and the Americas has historically been the Spanish-American silver dollar, which created a global silver standard system from the 16th to 19th centuries, due to abundant silver supplies in Spanish America.[69] The U.S. dollar itself was derived from this coin. The Spanish dollar was later displaced by the British pound sterling in the advent of the international gold standard in the last quarter of the 19th century.

The U.S. dollar began to displace the pound sterling as international reserve currency from the 1920s since it emerged from the First World War relatively unscathed and since the United States was a significant recipient of wartime gold inflows.[70] After the U.S. emerged as an even stronger global superpower during the Second World War, the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 established the post-war international monetary system, with the U.S. dollar ascending to become the world's primary reserve currency for international trade, and the only post-war currency linked to gold at $35 per troy ounce.[71]

As international reserve currency edit

The U.S. dollar is joined by the world's other major currencies – the euro, pound sterling, Japanese yen and Chinese renminbi – in the currency basket of the special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund. Central banks worldwide have huge reserves of U.S. dollars in their holdings and are significant buyers of U.S. treasury bills and notes.[72]

Foreign companies, entities, and private individuals hold U.S. dollars in foreign deposit accounts called eurodollars (not to be confused with the euro), which are outside the jurisdiction of the Federal Reserve System. Private individuals also hold dollars outside the banking system mostly in the form of US$100 bills, of which 80% of its supply is held overseas.

The United States Department of the Treasury exercises considerable oversight over the SWIFT financial transfers network,[73] and consequently has a huge sway on the global financial transactions systems, with the ability to impose sanctions on foreign entities and individuals.[74]

In the global markets edit

The U.S. dollar is predominantly the standard currency unit in which goods are quoted and traded, and with which payments are settled in, in the global commodity markets.[75] The U.S. Dollar Index is an important indicator of the dollar's strength or weakness versus a basket of six foreign currencies.

The United States Government is capable of borrowing trillions of dollars from the global capital markets in U.S. dollars issued by the Federal Reserve, which is itself under U.S. government purview, at minimal interest rates, and with virtually zero default risk. In contrast, foreign governments and corporations incapable of raising money in their own local currencies are forced to issue debt denominated in U.S. dollars, along with its consequent higher interest rates and risks of default.[76] The United States's ability to borrow in its own currency without facing a significant balance of payments crisis has been frequently described as its exorbitant privilege.[77]

A frequent topic of debate is whether the strong dollar policy of the United States is indeed in America's own best interests, as well as in the best interest of the international community.[78]

Currencies fixed to the U.S. dollar edit

For a more exhaustive discussion of countries using the U.S. dollar as official or customary currency, or using currencies which are pegged to the U.S. dollar, see International use of the U.S. dollar#Dollarization and fixed exchange rates and Currency substitution#US dollar.

Countries using the U.S. dollar as their official currency include:

Among the countries using the U.S. dollar together with other foreign currencies and their local currency are Cambodia and Zimbabwe.

Currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar include:

Value edit

Buying power of one U.S. dollar compared to 1775 Spanish milled dollar
 Year   Equivalent buying power
1775  $1.00
1780  $0.59
1790  $0.89
1800  $0.64
1810  $0.66
1820  $0.69
1830  $0.88
1840  $0.94
1850  $1.03
1860  $0.97
 Year   Equivalent buying power
1870  $0.62
1880  $0.79
1890  $0.89
1900  $0.96
1910  $0.85
1920  $0.39
1930  $0.47
1940  $0.56
1950  $0.33
1960  $0.26
 Year   Equivalent buying power
1970  $0.20
1980  $0.10
1990  $0.06
2000  $0.05
2007  $0.04
2008  $0.04
2009  $0.04
2010  $0.035
2011  $0.034
2012  $0.03
 
Inflation value of dollar

The 6th paragraph of Section 8 of Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution provides that the U.S. Congress shall have the power to "coin money" and to "regulate the value" of domestic and foreign coins. Congress exercised those powers when it enacted the Coinage Act of 1792. That Act provided for the minting of the first U.S. dollar and it declared that the U.S. dollar shall have "the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current".[79]

The table above shows the equivalent amount of goods that, in a particular year, could be purchased with $1. The table shows that from 1774 through 2012 the U.S. dollar has lost about 97.0% of its buying power.[80]

The decline in the value of the U.S. dollar corresponds to price inflation, which is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.[81] A consumer price index (CPI) is a measure estimating the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households. The United States Consumer Price Index, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a measure estimating the average price of consumer goods and services in the United States.[82] It reflects inflation as experienced by consumers in their day-to-day living expenses.[83] A graph showing the U.S. CPI relative to 1982–1984 and the annual year-over-year change in CPI is shown at right.

The value of the U.S. dollar declined significantly during wartime, especially during the American Civil War, World War I, and World War II.[84] The Federal Reserve, which was established in 1913, was designed to furnish an "elastic" currency subject to "substantial changes of quantity over short periods", which differed significantly from previous forms of high-powered money such as gold, national banknotes, and silver coins.[85] Over the very long run, the prior gold standard kept prices stable—for instance, the price level and the value of the U.S. dollar in 1914 were not very different from the price level in the 1880s. The Federal Reserve initially succeeded in maintaining the value of the U.S. dollar and price stability, reversing the inflation caused by the First World War and stabilizing the value of the dollar during the 1920s, before presiding over a 30% deflation in U.S. prices in the 1930s.[86]

Under the Bretton Woods system established after World War II, the value of gold was fixed to $35 per ounce, and the value of the U.S. dollar was thus anchored to the value of gold. Rising government spending in the 1960s, however, led to doubts about the ability of the United States to maintain this convertibility, gold stocks dwindled as banks and international investors began to convert dollars to gold, and as a result, the value of the dollar began to decline. Facing an emerging currency crisis and the imminent danger that the United States would no longer be able to redeem dollars for gold, gold convertibility was finally terminated in 1971 by President Nixon, resulting in the "Nixon shock".[87]

The value of the U.S. dollar was therefore no longer anchored to gold, and it fell upon the Federal Reserve to maintain the value of the U.S. currency. The Federal Reserve, however, continued to increase the money supply, resulting in stagflation and a rapidly declining value of the U.S. dollar in the 1970s. This was largely due to the prevailing economic view at the time that inflation and real economic growth were linked (the Phillips curve), and so inflation was regarded as relatively benign.[87] Between 1965 and 1981, the U.S. dollar lost two thirds of its value.[80]

In 1979, President Carter appointed Paul Volcker Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve tightened the money supply and inflation was substantially lower in the 1980s, and hence the value of the U.S. dollar stabilized.[87]

Over the thirty-year period from 1981 to 2009, the U.S. dollar lost over half its value.[80] This is because the Federal Reserve has targeted not zero inflation, but a low, stable rate of inflation—between 1987 and 1997, the rate of inflation was approximately 3.5%, and between 1997 and 2007 it was approximately 2%. The so-called "Great Moderation" of economic conditions since the 1970s is credited to monetary policy targeting price stability.[88]

There is an ongoing debate about whether central banks should target zero inflation (which would mean a constant value for the U.S. dollar over time) or low, stable inflation (which would mean a continuously but slowly declining value of the dollar over time, as is the case now). Although some economists are in favor of a zero inflation policy and therefore a constant value for the U.S. dollar,[86] others contend that such a policy limits the ability of the central bank to control interest rates and stimulate the economy when needed.[89]

Pegged currencies edit

Exchange rates edit

 
EUR/USD exchange rate

Historical exchange rates edit

Currency units per one U.S. dollar, averaged over the year[90][91][92]
Currency units 1970[i] 1980[i] 1985[i] 1990[i] 1993 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2018[93]
Euro  —  —  —  —  — 0.9387 1.0832 1.1171 1.0578 0.8833 0.8040 0.8033 0.7960 0.7293 0.6791 0.7176 0.6739 0.7178 0.7777 0.7530 0.7520 0.9015 0.8504
Japanese yen 357.6 240.45 250.35 146.25 111.08 113.73 107.80 121.57 125.22 115.94 108.15 110.11 116.31 117.76 103.39 93.68 87.78 79.70 79.82 97.60 105.74 121.05 111.130
Pound sterling 8s 4d
=0.4167
0.4484[ii] 0.8613[ii] 0.6207 0.6660 0.6184 0.6598 0.6946 0.6656 0.6117 0.5456 0.5493 0.5425 0.4995 0.5392 0.6385 0.4548 0.6233 0.6308 0.6393 0.6066 0.6544 0.7454
Swiss franc 4.12 1.68 2.46[94] 1.39 1.48 1.50 1.69 1.69 1.62 1.40 1.24 1.15 1.29 1.23 1.12 1.08 1.03 0.93 0.93 0.90 0.92 1.00 0.98
Canadian dollar[95] 1.081 1.168 1.321 1.1605 1.2902 1.4858 1.4855 1.5487 1.5704 1.4008 1.3017 1.2115 1.1340 1.0734 1.0660 1.1412 1.0298 0.9887 0.9995 1.0300 1.1043 1.2789 1.2842
Mexican peso[96] 0.01250–0.02650[iii] 2.80[iii] 2.67[iii] 2.50[iii] 3.1237 9.553 9.459 9.337 9.663 10.793 11.290 10.894 10.906 10.928 11.143 13.498 12.623 12.427 13.154 12.758 13.302 15.837 19.911
Chinese Renminbi[97] 2.46 1.7050 2.9366 4.7832 5.7620 8.2783 8.2784 8.2770 8.2771 8.2772 8.2768 8.1936 7.9723 7.6058 6.9477 6.8307 6.7696 6.4630 6.3093 6.1478 6.1620 6.2840 6.383
Pakistani rupee 4.761 9.9 15.9284 21.707 28.107 51.9 51.9 63.5 60.5 57.75 57.8 59.7 60.4 60.83 67 80.45 85.75 88.6 90.7 105.477 100.661 104.763 139.850
Singapore dollar  —  — 2.179 1.903 1.6158 1.6951 1.7361 1.7930 1.7908 1.7429 1.6902 1.6639 1.5882 1.5065 1.4140 1.4543 1.24586 1.2565 1.2492 1.2511 1.2665 1.3748 1.343

Current exchange rates edit

Current USD exchange rates
From Google Finance: AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY CAD TWD KRW
From Yahoo! Finance: AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY CAD TWD KRW
From XE.com: AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY CAD TWD KRW
From OANDA: AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY CAD TWD KRW

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Silver bullion can be converted in unlimited quantities of Trade dollars of 420 grains, but these were meant for export and had legal tender limits in the US. See Trade dollar (United States coin).
  2. ^ Obverse
  3. ^ Reverse
  4. ^ See Federal Reserve Note for details and references.
  5. ^ Alongside Cambodian riel
  6. ^ Alongside East Timor centavo coins
  7. ^ Alongside Ecuadorian centavo coins
  8. ^ Alongside Bitcoin
  9. ^ Alongside Liberian dollar
  10. ^ Alongside Panamanian balboa
  11. ^ Alongside Venezuelan Bolivar
  12. ^ Alongside Zimdollar
  13. ^ a b c Kingdom of the Netherlands
  14. ^ a b c United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  15. ^ Alongside Pound sterling
  1. ^ a b c d Mexican peso values prior to 1993 revaluation
  2. ^ a b 1970–1992 October 23, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. 1980 derived from AUD–USD=1.1055 and AUD–GBP=0.4957 at end of Dec 1979: 0.4957/1.1055=0.448394392; 1985 derived from AUD–USD=0.8278 and AUD–GBP=0.7130 at end of Dec 1984: 0.7130/0.8278=0.861319159.
  3. ^ a b c d Value at the start of the year

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Further reading edit

External links edit

  • U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing May 30, 1997, at the Wayback Machine
  • U.S. Currency and Coin Outstanding and in Circulation
  • American Currency Exhibit at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank
  • Relative values of the U.S. dollar, from 1774 to present
  • Historical Currency Converter
  • Summary of BEP Production Statistics
  • The U.S. Currency Education Program

Images of U.S. currency and coins edit

  • U.S. Currency Education Program page with images of all current banknotes
  • U.S. Mint: Image Library
  • Historical and current banknotes of the United States (in English and German)

united, states, dollar, redirects, here, other, uses, disambiguation, symbol, currency, code, also, abbreviated, distinguish, from, other, dollar, denominated, currencies, referred, dollar, dollar, american, dollar, colloquially, buck, official, currency, unit. USD redirects here For other uses see USD disambiguation The United States dollar symbol currency code USD also abbreviated US to distinguish it from other dollar denominated currencies referred to as the dollar U S dollar American dollar or colloquially buck is the official currency of the United States and several other countries The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U S dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar divided it into 100 cents and authorized the minting of coins denominated in dollars and cents U S banknotes are issued in the form of Federal Reserve Notes popularly called greenbacks due to their predominantly green color United States dollarFederal Reserve Notes obverse ISO 4217CodeUSD numeric 840 Subunit0 01UnitSymbol US U NicknameList Ace bean bill bone buck deuce dough dub ducat doubloon fin frog greenback large simoleons skins smackeroo smackers spondulix Tom yard and eaglePlural dead presidents green bones clamsBased on denomination Washingtons Jeffersons Lincolns Hamiltons Jacksons Grants Benjamins C note grand sawbuck single BluefacesDenominationsSuperunit 10EagleSubunit 1 10Dime 1 100Cent 1 1000MillSymbol Cent Mill Banknotes Freq used 1 5 10 20 50 100 Rarely used 2 still printed 500 1 000 5 000 10 000 discontinued still legal tender Coins Freq used1 5 10 25 Rarely used50 1 still minted 1 2 2 3 20 2 50 3 5 10 20 discontinued but still legal tender DemographicsDate of introductionApril 2 1792 231 years ago 1792 04 02 1 ReplacedContinental currencyVarious foreign currencies including Pound sterlingSpanish dollarUser s see Formal 11 Informal 7 IssuanceCentral bankFederal Reserve Websitefederalreserve wbr govPrinterBureau of Engraving and Printing Websitewww wbr bep wbr govMintUnited States Mint Websiteusmint wbr govValuationInflation3 4 Source 1 December 2023 MethodCPIPegged bysee Pegged currenciesThe monetary policy of the United States is conducted by the Federal Reserve System which acts as the nation s central bank The U S dollar was originally defined under a bimetallic standard of 371 25 grains 24 057 g 0 7735 troy ounces fine silver or from 1837 23 22 grains 1 505 g fine gold or 20 67 per troy ounce The Gold Standard Act of 1900 linked the dollar solely to gold From 1934 its equivalence to gold was revised to 35 per troy ounce Since 1971 all links to gold have been repealed 2 The U S dollar became an important international reserve currency after the First World War and displaced the pound sterling as the world s primary reserve currency by the Bretton Woods Agreement towards the end of the Second World War The dollar is the most widely used currency in international transactions 3 and a free floating currency It is also the official currency in several countries and the de facto currency in many others 4 5 with Federal Reserve Notes and in a few cases U S coins used in circulation As of February 10 2021 currency in circulation amounted to US 2 10 trillion 2 05 trillion of which is in Federal Reserve Notes the remaining 50 billion is in the form of coins and older style United States Notes 6 As of September 20 2023 the Federal Reserve estimated that the total amount of currency in circulation was approximately US 2 33 trillion 7 Contents 1 Overview 1 1 In the Constitution 1 2 Coinage Act 1 3 Decimal units 1 4 Etymology 1 5 Nicknames 1 6 Dollar sign 2 History 2 1 Origins the Spanish dollar 2 2 Coinage Act of 1792 2 3 Design 2 4 Continental currency 2 5 Silver and gold standards 19th century 2 6 Note issues 19th century 2 7 Gold standard 20th century 2 8 Federal Reserve Notes 20th century to present 2 9 Emergence as reserve currency 3 Coins 3 1 Collector coins 4 Banknotes 5 Countries that use US dollar 5 1 Formal 5 2 Informal 6 Monetary policy 7 International use as reserve currency 7 1 Ascendancy 7 2 As international reserve currency 7 3 In the global markets 7 4 Currencies fixed to the U S dollar 8 Value 9 Pegged currencies 10 Exchange rates 10 1 Historical exchange rates 10 2 Current exchange rates 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links 15 1 Images of U S currency and coinsOverview editIn the Constitution edit Article I Section 8 of the U S Constitution provides that Congress has the power t o coin money 8 Laws implementing this power are currently codified in Title 31 of the U S Code under Section 5112 which prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued 9 These coins are both designated in the section as legal tender in payment of debts 9 The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar in contrast to the American Silver Eagle which is pure silver Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins which have values ranging from one cent U S Penny to 100 dollars 9 These other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar Article I Section 9 of the Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time 10 which is further specified by Section 331 of Title 31 of the U S Code 11 The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently expressed in U S dollars thus the U S dollar may be described as the unit of account of the United States 12 Dollar is one of the first words of Section 9 in which the term refers to the Spanish milled dollar or the coin worth eight Spanish reales Coinage Act editIn 1792 the U S Congress passed the Coinage Act of which Section 9 authorized the production of various coins including 13 248 Dollars or Units each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current and to contain three hundred and seventy one grains and four sixteenth parts of a grain of pure or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver Section 20 of the Act designates the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States 13 250 1 T he money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars or units and that all accounts in the public offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation Decimal units edit Unlike the Spanish milled dollar the Continental Congress and the Coinage Act prescribed a decimal system of units to go with the unit dollar as follows 14 15 the mill or one thousandth of a dollar the cent or one hundredth of a dollar the dime or one tenth of a dollar and the eagle or ten dollars The current relevance of these units Only the cent is used as everyday division of the dollar The dime is used solely as the name of the coin with the value of 10 cents The mill is relatively unknown but before the mid 20th century was familiarly used in matters of sales taxes as well as gasoline prices which are usually in the form of XX XX9 per gallon e g 3 599 commonly written as 3 59 9 10 16 17 The eagle is also largely unknown to the general public 17 This term was used in the Coinage Act of 1792 for the denomination of ten dollars and subsequently was used in naming gold coins The Spanish peso or dollar was historically divided into eight reales colloquially bits hence pieces of eight Americans also learned counting in non decimal bits of 12 1 2 cents before 1857 when Mexican bits were more frequently encountered than American cents in fact this practice survived in New York Stock Exchange quotations until 2001 18 19 In 1854 Secretary of the Treasury James Guthrie proposed creating 100 50 and 25 gold coins to be referred to as a union half union and quarter union respectively 20 thus implying a denomination of 1 Union 100 However no such coins were ever struck and only patterns for the 50 half union exist When currently issued in circulating form denominations less than or equal to a dollar are emitted as U S coins while denominations greater than or equal to a dollar are emitted as Federal Reserve Notes disregarding these special cases Gold coins issued for circulation until the 1930s up to the value of 20 known as the double eagle Bullion or commemorative gold silver platinum and palladium coins valued up to 100 as legal tender though worth far more as bullion Civil War paper currency issue in denominations below 1 i e fractional currency sometimes pejoratively referred to as shinplasters Etymology edit Further information Dollar In the 16th century Count Hieronymus Schlick of Bohemia began minting coins known as joachimstalers named for Joachimstal the valley in which the silver was mined In turn the valley s name is titled after Saint Joachim whereby thal or tal a cognate of the English word dale is German for valley 21 The joachimstaler was later shortened to the German taler a word that eventually found its way into many languages including 21 tolar Czech Slovak and Slovenian daler Danish and Swedish dalar and daler Norwegian daler or daalder Dutch talari Ethiopian taller Hungarian tallero Italian دولار Arabic and dollar English Though the Dutch pioneered in modern day New York in the 17th century the use and the counting of money in silver dollars in the form of German Dutch reichsthalers and native Dutch leeuwendaalders lion dollars it was the ubiquitous Spanish American eight real coin which became exclusively known as the dollar since the 18th century 22 Nicknames edit See also Slang terms for money United States The colloquialism buck s much like the British quid for the pound sterling is often used to refer to dollars of various nations including the U S dollar This term dating to the 18th century may have originated with the colonial leather trade or it may also have originated from a poker term 23 Greenback is another nickname originally applied specifically to the 19th century Demand Note dollars which were printed black and green on the backside created by Abraham Lincoln to finance the North for the Civil War 24 It is still used to refer to the U S dollar but not to the dollars of other countries The term greenback is also used by the financial press in other countries such as Australia 25 New Zealand 26 South Africa 27 and India 28 Other well known names of the dollar as a whole in denominations include greenmail green and dead presidents the latter of which referring to the deceased presidents pictured on most bills Dollars in general have also been known as bones e g twenty bones 20 The newer designs with portraits displayed in the main body of the obverse rather than in cameo insets upon paper color coded by denomination are sometimes referred to as bigface notes or Monopoly money citation needed Piastre was the original French word for the U S dollar used for example in the French text of the Louisiana Purchase Though the U S dollar is called dollar in Modern French the term piastre is still used among the speakers of Cajun French and New England French as well as speakers in Haiti and other French speaking Caribbean islands Nicknames specific to denomination The quarter dollar coin is known as two bits alluding the dollar s origins as the piece of eight bits or reales 18 The 1 bill is nicknamed buck or single The infrequently used 2 bill is sometimes called deuce Tom or Jefferson after Thomas Jefferson The 5 bill is sometimes called Lincoln after Abraham Lincoln fin fiver or five spot The 10 bill is sometimes called sawbuck ten spot or Hamilton after Alexander Hamilton The 20 bill is sometimes called double sawbuck Jackson after Andrew Jackson or double eagle The 50 bill is sometimes called a yardstick or a grant after President Ulysses S Grant The 100 bill is called Benjamin Benji Ben or Franklin referring to its portrait of Benjamin Franklin Other nicknames include C note C being the Roman numeral for 100 century note or bill e g two bills 200 Amounts or multiples of 1 000 are sometimes called grand in colloquial speech abbreviated in written form to G K or k from kilo e g 10k 10 000 Likewise a large or stack can also refer to a multiple of 1 000 e g fifty large 50 000 Dollar sign edit Main article Dollar sign nbsp Spanish silver eight real or peso of 1768The symbol usually written before the numerical amount is used for the U S dollar as well as for many other currencies The sign was the result of a late 18th century evolution of the scribal abbreviation ps for the peso the common name for the Spanish dollars that were in wide circulation in the New World from the 16th to the 19th centuries The p and the s eventually came to be written over each other giving rise to 29 30 31 32 Another popular explanation is that it is derived from the Pillars of Hercules on the Spanish Coat of arms of the Spanish dollar These Pillars of Hercules on the silver Spanish dollar coins take the form of two vertical bars and a swinging cloth band in the shape of an S citation needed Yet another explanation suggests that the dollar sign was formed from the capital letters U and S written or printed one on top of the other This theory popularized by novelist Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged 33 does not consider the fact that the symbol was already in use before the formation of the United States 34 History editSee also History of the United States dollar Origins the Spanish dollar edit The U S dollar was introduced at par with the Spanish American silver dollar or Spanish peso Spanish milled dollar eight real coin piece of eight The latter was produced from the rich silver mine output of Spanish America was minted in Mexico City Potosi Bolivia Lima Peru and elsewhere and was in wide circulation throughout the Americas Asia and Europe from the 16th to the 19th centuries The minting of machine milled Spanish dollars since 1732 boosted its worldwide reputation as a trade coin and positioned it to be the model for the new currency of the United States citation needed Even after the United States Mint commenced issuing coins in 1792 locally minted dollars and cents were less abundant in circulation than Spanish American pesos and reales hence Spanish Mexican and American dollars all remained legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of 1857 In particular colonists familiarity with the Spanish two real quarter peso was the reason for issuing a quasi decimal 25 cent quarter dollar coin rather than a 20 cent coin citation needed For the relationship between the Spanish dollar and the individual state colonial currencies see Connecticut pound Delaware pound Georgia pound Maryland pound Massachusetts pound New Hampshire pound New Jersey pound New York pound North Carolina pound Pennsylvania pound Rhode Island pound South Carolina pound and Virginia pound citation needed Coinage Act of 1792 edit See also Coinage Act of 1792 nbsp Alexander Hamilton finalized the details of the 1792 Coinage Act and the establishment of the U S Mint On July 6 1785 the Continental Congress resolved that the money unit of the United States the dollar would contain 375 64 grains of fine silver on August 8 1786 the Continental Congress continued that definition and further resolved that the money of account corresponding with the division of coins would proceed in a decimal ratio with the sub units being mills at 0 001 of a dollar cents at 0 010 of a dollar and dimes at 0 100 of a dollar 14 After the adoption of the United States Constitution the U S dollar was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 It specified a dollar based on the Spanish milled dollar to contain 371 4 16 grains of fine silver or 416 0 grains 26 96 g of standard silver of fineness 371 25 416 89 24 as well as an eagle to contain 247 4 8 grains of fine gold or 270 0 grains 17 50 g of 22 karat or 91 67 fine gold 35 Alexander Hamilton arrived at these numbers based on a treasury assay of the average fine silver content of a selection of worn Spanish dollars which came out to be 371 grains Combined with the prevailing gold silver ratio of 15 the standard for gold was calculated at 371 15 24 73 grains fine gold or 26 98 grains 22K gold Rounding the latter to 27 0 grains finalized the dollar s standard to 24 75 grains of fine gold or 24 75 15 371 25 grains 24 0566 grams 0 7735 troy ounces of fine silver The same coinage act also set the value of an eagle at 10 dollars and the dollar at 1 10 eagle It called for silver coins in denominations of 1 1 2 1 4 1 10 and 1 20 dollar as well as gold coins in denominations of 1 1 2 and 1 4 eagle The value of gold or silver contained in the dollar was then converted into relative value in the economy for the buying and selling of goods This allowed the value of things to remain fairly constant over time except for the influx and outflux of gold and silver in the nation s economy 36 Though a Spanish dollar freshly minted after 1772 theoretically contained 417 7 grains of silver of fineness 130 144 or 377 1 grains fine silver reliable assays of the period in fact confirmed a fine silver content of 370 95 grains 24 037 g for the average Spanish dollar in circulation 37 The new U S silver dollar of 371 25 grains 24 057 g therefore compared favorably and was received at par with the Spanish dollar for foreign payments and after 1803 the United States Mint had to suspend making this coin out of its limited resources since it failed to stay in domestic circulation It was only after Mexican independence in 1821 when their peso s fine silver content of 377 1 grains was firmly upheld which the U S later had to compete with using a heavier 378 0 grains 24 49 g Trade dollar coin Design edit The early currency of the United States did not exhibit faces of presidents as is the custom now 38 although today by law only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency 39 In fact the newly formed government was against having portraits of leaders on the currency a practice compared to the policies of European monarchs 40 The currency as we know it today did not get the faces they currently have until after the early 20th century before that heads side of coinage used profile faces and striding seated and standing figures from Greek and Roman mythology and composite Native Americans The last coins to be converted to profiles of historic Americans were the dime 1946 and the Dollar 1971 Continental currency edit See also Continental currency nbsp Continental one third dollar bill obverse After the American Revolution the Thirteen Colonies became independent Freed from British monetary regulations they each issued sd paper money to pay for military expenses The Continental Congress also began issuing Continental Currency denominated in Spanish dollars For its value relative to states currencies see Early American currency Continental currency depreciated badly during the war giving rise to the famous phrase not worth a continental 41 A primary problem was that monetary policy was not coordinated between Congress and the states which continued to issue bills of credit Additionally neither Congress nor the governments of the several states had the will or the means to retire the bills from circulation through taxation or the sale of bonds 42 The currency was ultimately replaced by the silver dollar at the rate of 1 silver dollar to 1000 continental dollars This resulted in the clause No state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts being written into the United States Constitution article 1 section 10 Silver and gold standards 19th century edit From implementation of the 1792 Mint Act to the 1900 implementation of the gold standard the dollar was on a bimetallic silver and gold standard defined as either 371 25 grains 24 056 g of fine silver or 24 75 grains of fine gold gold silver ratio 15 Subsequent to the Coinage Act of 1834 the dollar s fine gold equivalent was revised to 23 2 grains it was slightly adjusted to 23 22 grains 1 505 g in 1837 gold silver ratio 16 The same act also resolved the difficulty in minting the standard silver of 89 24 fineness by revising the dollar s alloy to 412 5 grains 90 silver still containing 371 25 grains fine silver Gold was also revised to 90 fineness 25 8 grains gross 23 22 grains fine gold Following the rise in the price of silver during the California Gold Rush and the disappearance of circulating silver coins the Coinage Act of 1853 reduced the standard for silver coins less than 1 from 412 5 grains to 384 grains 24 9 g 90 silver per 100 cents slightly revised to 25 0 g 90 silver in 1873 The Act also limited the free silver right of individuals to convert bullion into only one coin the silver dollar of 412 5 grains smaller coins of lower standard can only be produced by the United States Mint using its own bullion Summary and links to coins issued in the 19th century In base metal 1 2 cent 1 cent 5 cents In silver half dime dime quarter dollar half dollar silver dollar In gold gold 1 2 50 quarter eagle 5 half eagle 10 eagle 20 double eagle Less common denominations bronze 2 cents nickel 3 cents silver 3 cents silver 20 cents gold 3 Note issues 19th century edit nbsp Series of 1917 1 United States NoteIn order to finance the War of 1812 Congress authorized the issuance of Treasury Notes interest bearing short term debt that could be used to pay public dues While they were intended to serve as debt they did function to a limited extent as money Treasury Notes were again printed to help resolve the reduction in public revenues resulting from the Panic of 1837 and the Panic of 1857 as well as to help finance the Mexican American War and the Civil War Paper money was issued again in 1862 without the backing of precious metals due to the Civil War In addition to Treasury Notes Congress in 1861 authorized the Treasury to borrow 50 million in the form of Demand Notes which did not bear interest but could be redeemed on demand for precious metals However by December 1861 the Union government s supply of specie was outstripped by demand for redemption and they were forced to suspend redemption temporarily In February 1862 Congress passed the Legal Tender Act of 1862 issuing United States Notes which were not redeemable on demand and bore no interest but were legal tender meaning that creditors had to accept them at face value for any payment except for public debts and import tariffs However silver and gold coins continued to be issued resulting in the depreciation of the newly printed notes through Gresham s Law In 1869 Supreme Court ruled in Hepburn v Griswold that Congress could not require creditors to accept United States Notes but overturned that ruling the next year in the Legal Tender Cases In 1875 Congress passed the Specie Payment Resumption Act requiring the Treasury to allow U S Notes to be redeemed for gold after January 1 1879 Gold standard 20th century edit nbsp Gold double eagle 20 coin 1907Though the dollar came under the gold standard de jure only after 1900 the bimetallic era was ended de facto when the Coinage Act of 1873 suspended the minting of the standard silver dollar of 412 5 Troy grains 26 73 g 0 859 ozt the only fully legal tender coin that individuals could convert bullion into in unlimited or Free silver quantities a and right at the onset of the silver rush from the Comstock Lode in the 1870s This was the so called Crime of 73 The Gold Standard Act of 1900 repealed the U S dollar s historic link to silver and defined it solely as 23 22 grains 1 505 g of fine gold or 20 67 per troy ounce of 480 grains In 1933 gold coins were confiscated by Executive Order 6102 under Franklin D Roosevelt and in 1934 the standard was changed to 35 per troy ounce fine gold or 13 71 grains 0 888 g per dollar After 1968 a series of revisions to the gold peg was implemented culminating in the Nixon Shock of August 15 1971 which suddenly ended the convertibility of dollars to gold The U S dollar has since floated freely on the foreign exchange markets citation needed Federal Reserve Notes 20th century to present edit See also Federal Reserve Note nbsp Obverse of a rare 1934 500 Federal Reserve Note featuring a portrait of President William McKinley nbsp Reverse of a 500 Federal Reserve Note Congress continued to issue paper money after the Civil War the latest of which is the Federal Reserve Note that was authorized by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 Since the discontinuation of all other types of notes Gold Certificates in 1933 Silver Certificates in 1963 and United States Notes in 1971 U S dollar notes have since been issued exclusively as Federal Reserve Notes Emergence as reserve currency edit Main article International use of the U S dollar nbsp John Maynard Keynes right and Harry Dexter White at the inaugural meeting of the International Monetary Fund in 1946 They were instrumental in drafting the provisions of the post war global financial system The U S dollar first emerged as an important international reserve currency in the 1920s displacing the British pound sterling as it emerged from the First World War relatively unscathed and since the United States was a significant recipient of wartime gold inflows After the United States emerged as an even stronger global superpower during the Second World War the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 established the U S dollar as the world s primary reserve currency and the only post war currency linked to gold Despite all links to gold being severed in 1971 the dollar continues to be the world s foremost reserve currency for international trade to this day The Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 also defined the post World War II monetary order and relations among modern day independent states by setting up a system of rules institutions and procedures to regulate the international monetary system The agreement founded the International Monetary Fund and other institutions of the modern day World Bank Group establishing the infrastructure for conducting international payments and accessing the global capital markets using the U S dollar The monetary policy of the United States is conducted by the Federal Reserve System which acts as the nation s central bank It was founded in 1913 under the Federal Reserve Act in order to furnish an elastic currency for the United States and to supervise its banking system particularly in the aftermath of the Panic of 1907 For most of the post war period the U S government has financed its own spending by borrowing heavily from the dollar lubricated global capital markets in debts denominated in its own currency and at minimal interest rates This ability to borrow heavily without facing a significant balance of payments crisis has been described as the United States s exorbitant privilege Coins editMain article Coins of the United States dollar The United States Mint has issued legal tender coins every year from 1792 to the present From 1934 to the present the only denominations produced for circulation have been the familiar penny nickel dime quarter half dollar and dollar Denomination Common name Obverse Reverse Obverse portrait and design date Reverse motif and design date Weight Diameter Material Edge CirculationCent1 penny nbsp Abraham Lincoln 1909 Union Shield 2010 2 5 g 0 088 oz 0 75 in 19 05 mm 97 5 Zn covered by 2 5 Cu Plain WideFive cents5 nickel nbsp nbsp Thomas Jefferson 2006 Monticello 1938 5 0 g 0 176 oz 0 835 in 21 21 mm 75 Cu25 Ni Plain WideTen cents10 dime nbsp Franklin D Roosevelt 1946 Olive branch torch and oak branch 1946 2 268 g 0 08 oz 0 705 in 17 91 mm 91 67 Cu8 33 Ni 118 reeds WideQuarter dollar25 quarter nbsp nbsp George Washington 1932 Various 5 designs per year 5 67 g 0 2 oz 0 955 in 24 26 mm 91 67 Cu8 33 Ni 119 reeds WideHalf dollar50 half dollar nbsp nbsp John F Kennedy 1964 Presidential Seal 1964 11 34 g 0 4 oz 1 205 in 30 61 mm 91 67 Cu8 33 Ni 150 reeds LimitedDollar coin 1 dollar coin golden dollar nbsp nbsp Sacagawea 2000 Various 4 designs per year 8 10 g 0 286 oz 1 043 in 26 50 mm 88 5 Cu6 Zn3 5 Mn2 Ni Plain 2000 2006Lettered 2007 Present LimitedThese images are to scale at 2 5 pixels per millimetre For table standards see the coin specification table Gold and silver coins have been previously minted for general circulation from the 18th to the 20th centuries The last gold coins were minted in 1933 The last 90 silver coins were minted in 1964 and the last 40 silver half dollar was minted in 1970 The United States Mint currently produces circulating coins at the Philadelphia and Denver Mints and commemorative and proof coins for collectors at the San Francisco and West Point Mints Mint mark conventions for these and for past mint branches are discussed in Coins of the United States dollar Mint marks The one dollar coin has never been in popular circulation from 1794 to present despite several attempts to increase their usage since the 1970s the most important reason of which is the continued production and popularity of the one dollar bill 43 Half dollar coins were commonly used currency since inception in 1794 but has fallen out of use from the mid 1960s when all silver half dollars began to be hoarded The nickel is the only coin whose size and composition 5 grams 75 copper and 25 nickel is still in use from 1865 to today except for wartime 1942 1945 Jefferson nickels which contained silver Due to the penny s low value some efforts have been made to eliminate the penny as circulating coinage 44 45 For a discussion of other discontinued and canceled denominations see Obsolete denominations of United States currency and Canceled denominations of United States currency Collector coins edit Collector coins are technically legal tender at face value but are usually worth far more due to their numismatic value or for their precious metal content These include American Eagle bullion coins American Silver Eagle 1 1 troy oz Silver bullion coin 1986 present American Gold Eagle 5 1 10 troy oz 10 1 4 troy oz 25 1 2 troy oz and 50 1 troy oz Gold bullion coin 1986 present American Platinum Eagle 10 1 10 troy oz 25 1 4 troy oz 50 1 2 troy oz and 100 1 troy oz Platinum bullion coin 1997 present American Palladium Eagle 25 1 troy oz Palladium bullion coin 2017 present United States commemorative coins special issue coins among these 50 00 Half Union minted for the Panama Pacific International Exposition 1915 Silver proof sets minted since 1992 with dimes quarters and half dollars made of silver rather than the standard copper nickel Presidential dollar coins proof sets minted since 2007Banknotes editMain article Federal Reserve Note Denomination Front Reverse Portrait Reverse motif First series Latest series CirculationOne dollar nbsp nbsp George Washington Great Seal of the United States Series 1963 b Series 1935 c Series 2017A 46 WideTwo dollars nbsp nbsp Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull Series 1976 Series 2017A Limited 47 Five dollars nbsp nbsp Abraham Lincoln Lincoln Memorial Series 2006 Series 2021 48 WideTen dollars nbsp nbsp Alexander Hamilton Treasury Building Series 2004A Series 2017A WideTwenty dollars nbsp nbsp Andrew Jackson White House Series 2004 Series 2017A WideFifty dollars nbsp nbsp Ulysses S Grant United States Capitol Series 2004 Series 2017A WideOne hundred dollars nbsp nbsp Benjamin Franklin Independence Hall Series 2009A 49 Series 2017A WideThe U S Constitution provides that Congress shall have the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States 50 Congress has exercised that power by authorizing Federal Reserve Banks to issue Federal Reserve Notes Those notes are obligations of the United States and shall be redeemed in lawful money on demand at the Treasury Department of the United States in the city of Washington District of Columbia or at any Federal Reserve bank 51 Federal Reserve Notes are designated by law as legal tender for the payment of debts 52 Congress has also authorized the issuance of more than 10 other types of banknotes including the United States Note 53 and the Federal Reserve Bank Note The Federal Reserve Note is the only type that remains in circulation since the 1970s Federal Reserve Notes are printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and are made from cotton fiber paper as opposed to wood fiber used to make common paper The large sized notes issued before 1928 measured 7 42 in 3 125 in 188 5 mm 79 4 mm while small sized notes introduced that year measure 6 14 in 2 61 in 0 0043 in 155 96 mm 66 29 mm 0 11 mm 54 The dimensions of the modern small size U S currency is identical to the size of Philippine peso banknotes issued under United States administration after 1903 which had proven highly successful 55 The American large note bills became known as horse blankets or saddle blankets 56 Currently printed denominations are 1 2 5 10 20 50 and 100 Notes above the 100 denomination stopped being printed in 1946 and were officially withdrawn from circulation in 1969 These notes were used primarily in inter bank transactions or by organized crime it was the latter usage that prompted President Richard Nixon to issue an executive order in 1969 halting their use With the advent of electronic banking they became less necessary Notes in denominations of 500 1 000 5 000 10 000 and 100 000 were all produced at one time see large denomination bills in U S currency for details With the exception of the 100 000 bill which was only issued as a Series 1934 Gold Certificate and was never publicly circulated thus it is illegal to own these notes are now collectors items and are worth more than their face value to collectors Though still predominantly green the post 2004 series incorporate other colors to better distinguish different denominations As a result of a 2008 decision in an accessibility lawsuit filed by the American Council of the Blind the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is planning to implement a raised tactile feature in the next redesign of each note except the 1 and the current version of the 100 bill It also plans larger higher contrast numerals more color differences and distribution of currency readers to assist the visually impaired during the transition period d Countries that use US dollar editFormal edit United States of America including 5 territories American Samoa Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico United States Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Cambodia 57 58 e East Timor 59 f Ecuador 60 g El Salvador 61 h Liberia 62 i Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Palau Panama j Venezuela k 63 64 Zimbabwe l Informal edit Bonaire m British Indian Ocean Territory n o British Virgin Islands n Saba m Sint Eustatius m Turks and Caicos n Monetary policy editSee also Federal Reserve System Monetary policy Monetary policy of the United States and money supply nbsp The Headquarters of the Federal Reserve System in Washington D C The Federal Reserve Act created the Federal Reserve System in 1913 as the central bank of the United States Its primary task is to conduct the nation s monetary policy to promote maximum employment stable prices and moderate long term interest rates in the U S economy It is also tasked to promote the stability of the financial system and regulate financial institutions and to act as lender of last resort 65 66 The Monetary policy of the United States is conducted by the Federal Open Market Committee which is composed of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and 5 out of the 12 Federal Reserve Bank presidents and is implemented by all twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks Monetary policy refers to actions made by central banks that determine the size and growth rate of the money supply available in the economy and which would result in desired objectives like low inflation low unemployment and stable financial systems The economy s aggregate money supply is the total of M0 money or Monetary Base dollars in currency and bank money balances credited to the central bank s depositors which are backed by the central bank s assets plus M1 M2 M3 money dollars in the form of bank money balances credited to banks depositors which are backed by the bank s assets and investments The FOMC influences the level of money available to the economy by the following means Reserve requirements specifies a required minimum percentage of deposits in a commercial bank that should be held as a reserve i e as deposits with the Federal Reserve with the rest available to loan or invest Higher requirements mean less money loaned or invested helping keep inflation in check Raising the federal funds rate earned on those reserves also helps achieve this objective Open market operations the Federal Reserve buys or sells US Treasury bonds and other securities held by banks in exchange for reserves more reserves increase a bank s capacity to loan or invest elsewhere Discount window lending banks can borrow from the Federal Reserve Monetary policy directly affects interest rates it indirectly affects stock prices wealth and currency exchange rates Through these channels monetary policy influences spending investment production employment and inflation in the United States Effective monetary policy complements fiscal policy to support economic growth The adjusted monetary base has increased from approximately 400 billion in 1994 to 800 billion in 2005 and to over 3 trillion in 2013 67 When the Federal Reserve makes a purchase it credits the seller s reserve account with the Federal Reserve This money is not transferred from any existing funds it is at this point that the Federal Reserve has created new high powered money Commercial banks then decide how much money to keep in deposit with the Federal Reserve and how much to hold as physical currency In the latter case the Federal Reserve places an order for printed money from the U S Treasury Department 68 The Treasury Department in turn sends these requests to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to print new dollar bills and the Bureau of the Mint to stamp the coins The Federal Reserve s monetary policy objectives to keep prices stable and unemployment low is often called the dual mandate This replaces past practices under a gold standard where the main concern is the gold equivalent of the local currency or under a gold exchange standard where the concern is fixing the exchange rate versus another gold convertible currency previously practiced worldwide under the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 via fixed exchange rates to the U S dollar International use as reserve currency edit nbsp Worldwide use of the U S dollar United States External adopters of the US dollar Currencies pegged to the US dollar Currencies pegged to the US dollar w narrow band Worldwide use of the euro Eurozone External adopters of the euro Currencies pegged to the euro Currencies pegged to the euro w narrow bandMain article International use of the U S dollar See also Reserve currency International monetary system Eurodollar Exorbitant privilege Strong dollar policy and Dollarization Ascendancy edit The primary currency used for global trade between Europe Asia and the Americas has historically been the Spanish American silver dollar which created a global silver standard system from the 16th to 19th centuries due to abundant silver supplies in Spanish America 69 The U S dollar itself was derived from this coin The Spanish dollar was later displaced by the British pound sterling in the advent of the international gold standard in the last quarter of the 19th century The U S dollar began to displace the pound sterling as international reserve currency from the 1920s since it emerged from the First World War relatively unscathed and since the United States was a significant recipient of wartime gold inflows 70 After the U S emerged as an even stronger global superpower during the Second World War the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 established the post war international monetary system with the U S dollar ascending to become the world s primary reserve currency for international trade and the only post war currency linked to gold at 35 per troy ounce 71 As international reserve currency edit The U S dollar is joined by the world s other major currencies the euro pound sterling Japanese yen and Chinese renminbi in the currency basket of the special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund Central banks worldwide have huge reserves of U S dollars in their holdings and are significant buyers of U S treasury bills and notes 72 Foreign companies entities and private individuals hold U S dollars in foreign deposit accounts called eurodollars not to be confused with the euro which are outside the jurisdiction of the Federal Reserve System Private individuals also hold dollars outside the banking system mostly in the form of US 100 bills of which 80 of its supply is held overseas The United States Department of the Treasury exercises considerable oversight over the SWIFT financial transfers network 73 and consequently has a huge sway on the global financial transactions systems with the ability to impose sanctions on foreign entities and individuals 74 In the global markets edit The U S dollar is predominantly the standard currency unit in which goods are quoted and traded and with which payments are settled in in the global commodity markets 75 The U S Dollar Index is an important indicator of the dollar s strength or weakness versus a basket of six foreign currencies The United States Government is capable of borrowing trillions of dollars from the global capital markets in U S dollars issued by the Federal Reserve which is itself under U S government purview at minimal interest rates and with virtually zero default risk In contrast foreign governments and corporations incapable of raising money in their own local currencies are forced to issue debt denominated in U S dollars along with its consequent higher interest rates and risks of default 76 The United States s ability to borrow in its own currency without facing a significant balance of payments crisis has been frequently described as its exorbitant privilege 77 A frequent topic of debate is whether the strong dollar policy of the United States is indeed in America s own best interests as well as in the best interest of the international community 78 Currencies fixed to the U S dollar edit For a more exhaustive discussion of countries using the U S dollar as official or customary currency or using currencies which are pegged to the U S dollar see International use of the U S dollar Dollarization and fixed exchange rates and Currency substitution US dollar Countries using the U S dollar as their official currency include In the Americas Panama Ecuador El Salvador British Virgin Islands Turks and Caicos Islands and the Caribbean Netherlands The constituent states of the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Palau the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands Others East Timor Among the countries using the U S dollar together with other foreign currencies and their local currency are Cambodia and Zimbabwe Currencies pegged to the U S dollar include In the Caribbean the Bahamian dollar Barbadian dollar Belize dollar Bermudan dollar Cayman Islands dollar East Caribbean dollar Netherlands Antillean guilder and the Aruban florin The currencies of five oil producing Arab countries the Saudi riyal United Arab Emirates dirham Omani rial Qatari riyal and the Bahraini dinar Others the Hong Kong dollar Macanese pataca Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Value editBuying power of one U S dollar compared to 1775 Spanish milled dollar Year Equivalent buying power1775 1 001780 0 591790 0 891800 0 641810 0 661820 0 691830 0 881840 0 941850 1 031860 0 97 Year Equivalent buying power1870 0 621880 0 791890 0 891900 0 961910 0 851920 0 391930 0 471940 0 561950 0 331960 0 26 Year Equivalent buying power1970 0 201980 0 101990 0 062000 0 052007 0 042008 0 042009 0 042010 0 0352011 0 0342012 0 03 nbsp Inflation value of dollarThe 6th paragraph of Section 8 of Article 1 of the U S Constitution provides that the U S Congress shall have the power to coin money and to regulate the value of domestic and foreign coins Congress exercised those powers when it enacted the Coinage Act of 1792 That Act provided for the minting of the first U S dollar and it declared that the U S dollar shall have the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current 79 The table above shows the equivalent amount of goods that in a particular year could be purchased with 1 The table shows that from 1774 through 2012 the U S dollar has lost about 97 0 of its buying power 80 The decline in the value of the U S dollar corresponds to price inflation which is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time 81 A consumer price index CPI is a measure estimating the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households The United States Consumer Price Index published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a measure estimating the average price of consumer goods and services in the United States 82 It reflects inflation as experienced by consumers in their day to day living expenses 83 A graph showing the U S CPI relative to 1982 1984 and the annual year over year change in CPI is shown at right The value of the U S dollar declined significantly during wartime especially during the American Civil War World War I and World War II 84 The Federal Reserve which was established in 1913 was designed to furnish an elastic currency subject to substantial changes of quantity over short periods which differed significantly from previous forms of high powered money such as gold national banknotes and silver coins 85 Over the very long run the prior gold standard kept prices stable for instance the price level and the value of the U S dollar in 1914 were not very different from the price level in the 1880s The Federal Reserve initially succeeded in maintaining the value of the U S dollar and price stability reversing the inflation caused by the First World War and stabilizing the value of the dollar during the 1920s before presiding over a 30 deflation in U S prices in the 1930s 86 Under the Bretton Woods system established after World War II the value of gold was fixed to 35 per ounce and the value of the U S dollar was thus anchored to the value of gold Rising government spending in the 1960s however led to doubts about the ability of the United States to maintain this convertibility gold stocks dwindled as banks and international investors began to convert dollars to gold and as a result the value of the dollar began to decline Facing an emerging currency crisis and the imminent danger that the United States would no longer be able to redeem dollars for gold gold convertibility was finally terminated in 1971 by President Nixon resulting in the Nixon shock 87 The value of the U S dollar was therefore no longer anchored to gold and it fell upon the Federal Reserve to maintain the value of the U S currency The Federal Reserve however continued to increase the money supply resulting in stagflation and a rapidly declining value of the U S dollar in the 1970s This was largely due to the prevailing economic view at the time that inflation and real economic growth were linked the Phillips curve and so inflation was regarded as relatively benign 87 Between 1965 and 1981 the U S dollar lost two thirds of its value 80 In 1979 President Carter appointed Paul Volcker Chairman of the Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve tightened the money supply and inflation was substantially lower in the 1980s and hence the value of the U S dollar stabilized 87 Over the thirty year period from 1981 to 2009 the U S dollar lost over half its value 80 This is because the Federal Reserve has targeted not zero inflation but a low stable rate of inflation between 1987 and 1997 the rate of inflation was approximately 3 5 and between 1997 and 2007 it was approximately 2 The so called Great Moderation of economic conditions since the 1970s is credited to monetary policy targeting price stability 88 There is an ongoing debate about whether central banks should target zero inflation which would mean a constant value for the U S dollar over time or low stable inflation which would mean a continuously but slowly declining value of the dollar over time as is the case now Although some economists are in favor of a zero inflation policy and therefore a constant value for the U S dollar 86 others contend that such a policy limits the ability of the central bank to control interest rates and stimulate the economy when needed 89 Pegged currencies editAruban florin Bahamian dollar at par Bahraini dinar higher value Barbadian dollar Belarusian ruble alongside Euro and Russian ruble in currency basket Belize dollar Bermudian dollar at par Bolivian boliviano Cambodian riel Cayman Islands dollar higher value Costa Rican colon Cuban peso Eastern Caribbean dollar East Timor centavo coins at par Ecuadorian centavo coins at par Salvadoran colon Eritrean nakfa Guatemalan quetzal Haitian gourde Honduran lempira Hong Kong dollar narrow band Iraqi dinar Jordanian dinar higher value Kuwaiti dinar higher value Lebanese pound lower value Antillean guilder Nicaraguan cordoba Nigerian naira Omani rial higher value Panamanian balboa at par Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Sierra Leonean leone Trinidad and Tobago dollar United Arab Emirates dirham Yemeni rial lower value Zimbabwean bond coins and bond notes at par Exchange rates editSee also U S Dollar Index nbsp EUR USD exchange rateHistorical exchange rates edit Currency units per one U S dollar averaged over the year 90 91 92 Currency units 1970 i 1980 i 1985 i 1990 i 1993 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2018 93 Euro 0 9387 1 0832 1 1171 1 0578 0 8833 0 8040 0 8033 0 7960 0 7293 0 6791 0 7176 0 6739 0 7178 0 7777 0 7530 0 7520 0 9015 0 8504Japanese yen 357 6 240 45 250 35 146 25 111 08 113 73 107 80 121 57 125 22 115 94 108 15 110 11 116 31 117 76 103 39 93 68 87 78 79 70 79 82 97 60 105 74 121 05 111 130Pound sterling 8s 4d 0 4167 0 4484 ii 0 8613 ii 0 6207 0 6660 0 6184 0 6598 0 6946 0 6656 0 6117 0 5456 0 5493 0 5425 0 4995 0 5392 0 6385 0 4548 0 6233 0 6308 0 6393 0 6066 0 6544 0 7454Swiss franc 4 12 1 68 2 46 94 1 39 1 48 1 50 1 69 1 69 1 62 1 40 1 24 1 15 1 29 1 23 1 12 1 08 1 03 0 93 0 93 0 90 0 92 1 00 0 98Canadian dollar 95 1 081 1 168 1 321 1 1605 1 2902 1 4858 1 4855 1 5487 1 5704 1 4008 1 3017 1 2115 1 1340 1 0734 1 0660 1 1412 1 0298 0 9887 0 9995 1 0300 1 1043 1 2789 1 2842Mexican peso 96 0 01250 0 02650 iii 2 80 iii 2 67 iii 2 50 iii 3 1237 9 553 9 459 9 337 9 663 10 793 11 290 10 894 10 906 10 928 11 143 13 498 12 623 12 427 13 154 12 758 13 302 15 837 19 911Chinese Renminbi 97 2 46 1 7050 2 9366 4 7832 5 7620 8 2783 8 2784 8 2770 8 2771 8 2772 8 2768 8 1936 7 9723 7 6058 6 9477 6 8307 6 7696 6 4630 6 3093 6 1478 6 1620 6 2840 6 383Pakistani rupee 4 761 9 9 15 9284 21 707 28 107 51 9 51 9 63 5 60 5 57 75 57 8 59 7 60 4 60 83 67 80 45 85 75 88 6 90 7 105 477 100 661 104 763 139 850Singapore dollar 2 179 1 903 1 6158 1 6951 1 7361 1 7930 1 7908 1 7429 1 6902 1 6639 1 5882 1 5065 1 4140 1 4543 1 24586 1 2565 1 2492 1 2511 1 2665 1 3748 1 343 Current exchange rates edit Current USD exchange ratesFrom Google Finance AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY CAD TWD KRWFrom Yahoo Finance AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY CAD TWD KRWFrom XE com AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY CAD TWD KRWFrom OANDA AUD CAD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY CAD TWD KRWSee also editCounterfeit United States currency Dedollarisation Currency substitution International use of the U S dollar List of the largest trading partners of the United States Monetary policy of the United States Petrodollar recycling Strong dollar policy U S Dollar Index Virtual currencyNotes edit Silver bullion can be converted in unlimited quantities of Trade dollars of 420 grains but these were meant for export and had legal tender limits in the US See Trade dollar United States coin Obverse Reverse See Federal Reserve Note for details and references Alongside Cambodian riel Alongside East Timor centavo coins Alongside Ecuadorian centavo coins Alongside Bitcoin Alongside Liberian dollar Alongside Panamanian balboa Alongside Venezuelan Bolivar Alongside Zimdollar a b c Kingdom of the Netherlands a b c United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Alongside Pound sterling a b c d Mexican peso values prior to 1993 revaluation a b 1970 1992 Archived October 23 2018 at the Wayback Machine 1980 derived from AUD USD 1 1055 and AUD GBP 0 4957 at end of Dec 1979 0 4957 1 1055 0 448394392 1985 derived from AUD USD 0 8278 and AUD GBP 0 7130 at end of Dec 1984 0 7130 0 8278 0 861319159 a b c d Value at the start of the yearReferences edit Coinage Act of 1792 PDF United States Congress Archived from the original PDF on April 7 2004 Retrieved April 2 2008 Nixon Ends Convertibility of US Dollars to Gold and Announces Wage Price Controls Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Archived from the original on November 20 2020 Retrieved October 17 2018 The Implementation of Monetary Policy The Federal Reserve in the International Sphere PDF Archived PDF from the original on April 27 2017 Retrieved October 17 2018 Cohen Benjamin J 2006 The Future of Money Princeton University Press ISBN 0 691 11666 0 Agar Charles 2006 Vietnam Frommer s ISBN 0 471 79816 9 p 17 the dollar is the de facto currency in Cambodia How much U S currency is in circulation Federal Reserve Archived from the original on November 13 2021 Retrieved February 27 2021 Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Factors Affecting Reserve Balances H 4 1 September 21 2023 Archived from the original on October 4 2023 U S Constitution Article 1 Section 8 para 5 Archived November 18 2021 at the Wayback Machine a b c Denominations specifications and design of coins 31 U S C 5112 U S Constitution Article 1 Section 9 para 7 Archived November 18 2021 at the Wayback Machine Reports 31 U S C 331 Financial Report of the United States Government PDF Department of the Treasury 2009 Archived from the original PDF on November 13 2018 Retrieved October 17 2018 a b U S Congress 1792 Coinage Act of 1792 2nd Congress 1st Session Sec 9 ch 16 Retrieved June 6 2020 a b Fitzpatrick John C ed 1934 Tuesday August 8 1786 Journals of the Continental Congress 1774 1789 XXXI 1786 503 505 Archived from the original on May 7 2021 Retrieved December 5 2019 Peters Richard ed 1845 Second Congress Sess I Ch 16 The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America Etc Etc 1 246 251 Archived from the original on November 13 2020 Retrieved December 5 2019 Langland Connie May 27 2015 What is a millage rate and how does it affect school funding WHYY PBS and NPR Archived from the original on March 7 2021 Retrieved December 5 2019 a b Mills Currency Past amp Present Stamp and Coin Place Blog September 26 2018 Archived from the original on May 3 2021 Retrieved December 5 2019 a b How much is two bits and where did the phrase Archived from the original on August 14 2021 Retrieved June 9 2021 Decimal Trading Definition and History Archived from the original on November 18 2021 Retrieved June 10 2021 Mehl B Max United States 50 00 Gold Pieces 1877 in Star Rare Coins Encyclopedia and Premium Catalogue 20th edition 1921 a b Ask US National Geographic June 2002 p 1 There s no solid reference on the desirability of liondollars in North America and on 1 1 parity with heavier dollars A dollar worth 0 80 Spanish is not cheap if priced at 0 50 http coins lakdiva org netherlands 1644 wes lion daalder ag html Archived February 5 2013 at the Wayback Machine https coins nd edu ColCoin ColCoinIntros Lion Dollar intro html Archived July 10 2018 at the Wayback Machine Buck Online Etymology Dictionary Retrieved October 17 2018 Paper Money Glossary Littleton Coin Company Archived from the original on October 18 2018 Retrieved October 17 2018 Scutt David June 3 2019 The Australian dollar is grinding higher as expectations for rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve build Business Insider Archived from the original on August 7 2019 Retrieved August 7 2019 Tappe Anneken August 9 2018 New Zealand dollar leads G 10 losers as greenback gains strength MarketWatch Archived from the original on August 7 2019 Retrieved August 7 2019 UPDATE 1 South Africa s rand firms against greenback stocks rise Reuters Retrieved August 7 2019 dead link Why rupee is once again under pressure Business Today April 22 2019 Retrieved August 7 2019 permanent dead link Cajori Florian 1929 1993 A History of Mathematical Notations Vol 2 New York Dover 15 29 ISBN 0 486 67766 4 Aiton Arthur S Wheeler Benjamin W 1931 The First American Mint The Hispanic American Historical Review 11 2 p 198 and note 2 on p 198 doi 10 1215 00182168 11 2 198 JSTOR 2506275 Nussbaum Arthur 1957 A History of the Dollar New York Columbia University Press p 56 The dollar sign is connected with the peso contrary to popular belief which considers it to be an abbreviation of U S The two parallel lines represented one of the many abbreviations of P and the S indicated the plural The abbreviation was also used for the peso and is still used in Argentina U S Bureau of Engraving and Printing FAQs www bep gov Archived from the original on October 18 2018 Retrieved October 17 2018 Rand Ayn 1957 1992 Atlas Shrugged Signet p 628 James James Alton 1970 1937 Oliver Pollock The Life and Times of an Unknown Patriot Freeport Books for Libraries Press p 356 ISBN 978 0 8369 5527 9 Mint U S April 6 2017 Coinage Act of 1792 U S treasury Archived from the original on November 8 2020 Retrieved October 17 2018 Mason Seth January 7 2013 The Definitive Inflation Chart Ecominoes Archived from the original on October 19 2018 Sumner W G 1898 The Spanish Dollar and the Colonial Shilling The American Historical Review 3 4 607 619 doi 10 2307 1834139 JSTOR 1834139 Archived from the original on April 9 2022 Retrieved June 7 2021 United States Dollar OANDA Archived from the original on October 18 2018 Retrieved October 17 2018 Engraving and printing currency and security documents Article b Legal Information Institute Archived from the original on December 20 2013 Retrieved December 19 2013 Matt Soniak July 22 2011 On the Money Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Coin Portraits Mental Floss Retrieved October 17 2018 Newman Eric P 1990 The Early Paper Money of America 3 ed Iola Wisconsin Krause Publications p 17 ISBN 0 87341 120 X Wright Robert E 2008 One Nation Under Debt Hamilton Jefferson and the History of What We Owe New York New York McGraw Hill pp 50 52 ISBN 978 0 07 154393 4 Anderson Gordon T April 25 2005 Congress tries again for a dollar coin Archived March 21 2022 at the Wayback Machine CNN Money Christian Zappone July 18 2006 Kill the penny bill introduced CNN Money Archived from the original on July 28 2019 Retrieved October 17 2018 Weinberg Ali February 19 2013 Penny pinching Can Obama manage elimination of one cent coin NBC News Archived from the original on October 18 2018 Retrieved October 17 2018 USPaperMoney Info Series 2017A 1 www uspapermoney info Archived from the original on February 21 2020 Retrieved February 7 2020 Meyersohn Nathaniel September 20 2022 Why it s time to start paying with 2 bills CNN Retrieved February 6 2024 5 Dollars Federal Reserve Note colored United States Archived from the original on June 7 2023 Retrieved June 7 2023 100 Note U S Currency Education Program Archived from the original on August 20 2020 Retrieved April 22 2021 Paragraph 2 of Section 8 of Article 1 of the United States Constitution Topics law cornell edu Archived from the original on November 18 2021 Retrieved October 17 2018 Section 411 of Title 12 of the United States Code Law cornell edu June 22 2010 Archived from the original on June 27 2019 Retrieved October 17 2018 Section 5103 of Title 31 of the United States Code Law cornell edu August 6 2010 Archived from the original on October 22 2018 Retrieved October 17 2018 Section 5115 of Title 31 of the United States Code Law cornell edu August 6 2010 Archived from the original on June 27 2019 Retrieved October 17 2018 Treasury Department Appropriation Bill for 1929 Hearing Before the Subcommittee of House Committee on Appropriations Seventieth Congress First Session 1928 Schwarz John Lindquist Scott September 21 2009 Standard Guide to Small Size U S Paper Money 1928 Date Penguin ISBN 9781440225789 Orzano Michele February 25 2015 What is a horse blanket note Coin World Archived from the original on November 29 2021 Nay Im Tal Dabadie Michel March 31 2007 Dollarization in Cambodia PDF National Bank of Cambodia Archived PDF from the original on May 11 2022 Retrieved April 11 2022 Nagumo Jada August 4 2021 Cambodia aims to wean off US dollar dependence with digital currency Nikkei Asia Archived from the original on April 15 2022 Retrieved April 11 2022 Cambodia runs a dual currency system with the U S dollar widely circulating in its economy The country s dollarization began in the 1980s and 90s following years of civil war and unrest Central Bank of Timor Leste Archived from the original on May 1 2019 Retrieved March 22 2017 The official currency of Timor Leste is the United States dollar which is legal tender for all payments made in cash Ecuador CIA World Factbook October 18 2010 Archived from the original on January 10 2021 Retrieved October 17 2018 The dollar is legal tender El Salvador CIA World Factbook October 21 2010 Archived from the original on May 7 2021 Retrieved October 17 2018 The US dollar became El Salvador s currency in 2001 Currency Central Bank of Liberia Archived from the original on January 15 2023 Retrieved January 15 2023 Zerpa Fabiola November 5 2019 Venezuela Is Now More Than 50 Dollarized Study Finds Bloomberg Retrieved November 9 2019 Maduro says thank God for dollarization in Venezuela Reuters November 17 2019 Retrieved November 18 2019 Federal Reserve Board Purposes amp Functions Archived from the original on March 26 2020 Retrieved June 11 2021 Conducting Monetary Policy PDF United States Federal Reserve Archived PDF from the original on August 11 2021 Retrieved August 23 2021 St Louis Adjusted Monetary Base Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis February 15 1984 Archived from the original on October 17 2018 Retrieved October 17 2018 Fact Sheets Currency amp Coins United States Department of the Treasury Archived from the original on October 18 2018 Retrieved October 17 2018 The Silver Way Explains How the Old Mexican Dollar Changed the World April 30 2017 Archived from the original on May 16 2021 Retrieved June 8 2021 Eichengreen Barry Flandreau Marc 2009 The rise and fall of the dollar or when did the dollar replace sterling as the leading reserve currency European Review of Economic History 13 3 377 411 doi 10 1017 S1361491609990153 ISSN 1474 0044 S2CID 154773110 Archived from the original on January 7 2023 Retrieved April 16 2021 How a 1944 Agreement Created a New World Order Archived from the original on May 20 2021 Retrieved June 8 2021 MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES US Treasury March 15 2023 Archived from the original on November 23 2010 Retrieved May 22 2023 SWIFT oversight Archived from the original on June 16 2023 Retrieved June 8 2021 Sanctions Programs and Country Information U S Department of the Treasury Archived from the original on June 16 2023 Retrieved June 8 2021 Impact of the Dollar on Commodity Prices Archived from the original on March 1 2023 Retrieved June 8 2021 Dollar Bond Archived from the original on June 8 2021 Retrieved June 8 2021 Bernanke Ben S January 7 2016 The dollar s international role An exorbitant privilege Archived from the original on June 8 2021 Mohsin Saleha January 21 2021 The Strong Dollar Bloomberg Archived from the original on August 22 2021 Retrieved August 23 2021 Section 9 of the Coinage Act of 1792 American Memory Library of Congress Archived from the original on July 29 2020 Retrieved August 24 2010 a b c Measuring Worth Purchasing Power of Money in the United States from 1774 to 2010 Archived from the original on June 16 2023 Retrieved April 22 2010 Olivier Blanchard 2000 Macroeconomics 2nd ed Englewood Cliffs N J Prentice Hall ISBN 0 13 013306 X Consumer Price Index Frequently Asked Questions Archived from the original on October 18 2018 Retrieved October 16 2018 Consumer Price Index Frequently Asked Questions Archived from the original on October 18 2018 Retrieved October 17 2018 Milton Friedman Anna Jacobson Schwartz November 21 1971 A monetary history of the United States 1867 1960 p 546 ISBN 978 0691003542 Friedman 189 190 a b Central Banking Then and Now Archived from the original on October 26 2018 Retrieved October 17 2018 a b c Controlling Inflation A Historical Perspective PDF Archived from the original PDF on December 7 2010 Retrieved July 17 2010 Monetary Credibility Inflation and Economic Growth Archived from the original on August 15 2010 Retrieved July 17 2010 U S Monetary Policy The Fed s Goals Archived from the original on October 18 2018 Retrieved October 17 2018 U S Federal Reserve Last 4 years Archived October 18 2018 at the Wayback Machine 2009 2012 Archived October 18 2018 at the Wayback Machine 2005 2008 Archived October 18 2018 at the Wayback Machine 2001 2004 Archived October 18 2018 at the Wayback Machine 1997 2000 Archived October 18 2018 at the Wayback Machine 1993 1996 Archived October 18 2018 at the Wayback Machine Reserve Bank of Australia 1970 present Archived October 23 2018 at the Wayback Machine 2004 present Archived from the original on July 23 2014 Retrieved July 24 2014 FRB Foreign Exchange Rates G 5A Release Dates Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Archived from the original on August 3 2014 Retrieved July 23 2014 Historical Exchange Rates Currency Converter TransferMate com Archived from the original on September 18 2016 Retrieved September 10 2016 Exchange Rates Between the United States Dollar and the Swiss Franc Archived March 30 2019 at the Wayback Machine Measuring Worth Retrieved October 17 2018 1977 1991 1976 1991 1974 1991 1993 1995Further reading editPrasad Eswar S 2014 The Dollar Trap How the U S Dollar Tightened Its Grip on Global Finance Princeton NJ Princeton University Press ISBN 978 0 691 16112 9 External links editUnited States dollar at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Definitions from Wiktionary nbsp Media from Commons nbsp News from Wikinews nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Texts from Wikisource nbsp Textbooks from Wikibooks nbsp Resources from Wikiversity U S Bureau of Engraving and Printing Archived May 30 1997 at the Wayback Machine U S Currency and Coin Outstanding and in Circulation American Currency Exhibit at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank Relative values of the U S dollar from 1774 to present Historical Currency Converter Summary of BEP Production Statistics The U S Currency Education ProgramImages of U S currency and coins edit U S Currency Education Program page with images of all current banknotes U S Mint Image Library Historical and current banknotes of the United States in English and German Portals nbsp Money nbsp North America nbsp Numismatics nbsp Politics nbsp United States Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title United States dollar amp oldid 1207644344, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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