I keep seeing news stories on Argentina dollarizing their economy. Has it worked for other economies? How?
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Dollarization is a form of currency substitution, which means that the country is going to accept a foreign currency as an alternative currency or even as a replacement for their own domestic currency. This is usually done by a country that has royally fucked up their own local currency so consumers and businesses no longer want to use it. Dollarization is when the foreign currency to be used is the US dollar, though there are cases of euro-ization in which the euro was used instead.
In the case of Argentina, successive governments have completed destroyed any faith in the Argentine peso. Right now the Argentine central bank has set their interest rate at 133% to try and bring their inflation under control. For context, the Federal Reserve rate right now is 5.5% and the European Central Bank rate is 4%. If people have no faith in your national currency, the economy grinds to a halt. Dollarizing the economy will give the Argentine economy a stable currency to use for transactions.
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