Are national currencies becoming obsolete? Like most nations around the world, every state of Europe until recently had its own national money – franc, mark, lira, whatever. Now 12 countries share the euro and, as a result of enlargement of the European Union, more are scheduled to join the eurozone in the not-so-distant future. Elsewhere, nations such as Ecuador and El Salvador have replaced their own money with the US dollar. Are many more national currencies fated to disappear?

For some monetary specialists, the answer is obvious. Many more countries will soon give up national currencies. Either they will join together in a monetary union or they will adopt a popular foreign currency such as the greenback or euro. “In the long run,” predicts Michel Camdessus, former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, “we are moving toward a world of fewer currencies.”