> From: Erik Reuter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > On Thu, Nov 25, 2004 at 11:01:45PM +0000, Alberto Monteiro wrote: > > > Andrew Paul wrote: > > > > > This time they laughed at you if you offered them US dollars. I have > > > a friend just back from Lebanon, who had the same experience. It is > > > interesting how people in remote Colombian villages are so keyed > > > into the global currency markets. I wonder how much is cause and how > > > much effect. > > > > Or could it be because there is a huge ammount of counterfeit dollars > > flowing around? And there are rumours that gov.us might change the > > _physical_ dollar to something different, making all paper money > > elsewhere automatically invalid - which could explain why some people > > would reject paper dollars. > > Probably neither, I guess. By the way, the US has already changed the > dollar over the past couple years (well, not the $1, but the $100 and > the $20 and the $10) to make it hard to counterfeit. > > Colombian private currencies holdings are just a drop in the ocean, > having absolutely no effect on exchange rates. >
I am sure you are right. It was more the sort of butterfly effect I was thinking about. Exchange rates are really just the sum of people's desire for a given currency over another. I was picturing some farmer somewhere and his decision not to accept a dollar over a peso, being part of the whole thing, perhaps the straw that broke the greenback, so to speak. Just an observation, musing on chaos and economics, rather than some grand economic theory. Andrew _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
