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US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rates on 22nd February 2012 (22/02/2012)

Exchange rate full table

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United States Dollar (USD)

Sign $
1 US dollar is subdivided into 10 dimes, 100 cents or 1000 mills.

USD is the currency code for the United States dollar (USD), it is synonymous with US$, both of which are represented in accounting with the $ symbol. The USD is the the worlds largest reserve currency, the most used currency in currency pair trades, and the primary currency used in the United States of America and its territories. It is also the currency for the Turks and Caicos Islands as well as the British Virgin Islands, both of which are overseas territories of the United Kingdom.

Coins used:
- frequently used: 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢
- rarely used: 50¢, $1

Banknotes used:
- frequently used: $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100
- rarely used: $2, $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, $100,000

Central Bank
Federal Reserve System
http://www.federalreserve.gov/
In addition to being the World's largest reserve currency the USD is officially used by 14 countries as their primary currency. This includes such countries as Panama, Ecuador, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Somoa. In addition to these countries that use the USD as their primary currency, 14 other countries use it as their unofficial currency, these countries include Cambodia, Lebanon, Palau, East Timor, The Bahamas, and the Marshall Islands. There are also 23 more countries, not yet included in either of these categories that have officially pegged their local currency to the USD, these currencies include the Belize dollar, Lebanese pound, Saudi riyal, Jordanian dinar, United Arab Emirates dirham, and the East Caribbean dollar just to name a few.

The current circulation of the USD is just over 800 billion, a number just below the circulation of the euro which is currently 816 billion. The currency unit for the issuance of the dollar is set on 1/1000 increments in spite of the lowest denomination in issuance being the penny, valued at 1/100 of a dollar. This 1/1000 or measure in mills, is an internal unit of calculation and why many taxes, fees, and even some retail prices, depending upon these taxes and fees, are priced with to the third decimal place. The most common example is the price of automobile gasoline in the United States which is openly available and purchased daily by most Americans at a price listed to the thousandth of the dollar, for example a price $3.56 9/10 or $3.599.

The value of the USD was originally tied directly to the Spanish milled dollar when the United States Congress enacted the Coinage Act of 1982. Over time the USD evolved through many standards of value to its current state as a floating fiat currency. This evolution has occurred while its overall purchasing power has declined by more than 96.3% from 1774 through 2010. In other words, the equivalent basket of goods that $1 could purchase in 1774 would currently cost $33.34 in 2010 USD. This devaluation of the dollar is also referred to as price inflation which is measured by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and is known as the United States Consumer Price Index (CPI).

While initially anchored to the value of metals such as gold and silver, the untying of the USD to these "high powered money" standards began with the introduction of the United States Federal Reserve in 1913. The stated intent of the Federal Reserve at the time was to allow for currency elasticity through the ability to substantially impact the quantity of money within a short period of time. This effectively removed the USD from what was known as the gold standard and the Federal Reserve allowed for inflation as a way to hold together the economy during World War I, stabilized the dollar through the 1920's and in fact brought about deflation in the 1930's.

Toward the end of World War II with its sever price instability and seeing the need for stable currencies and the economic interconnectedness of nation states the Bretton Woods system was put into place. This put the USD back onto a strict interpretation of the gold standard and this was also one of the first instances in history where nation states fully negotiated and then voluntarily subjected themselves to an agreed upon collaboration between their currencies and their sovereign monetary policies. The euro and eurozone being a more recent example of this same type of collaboration, but through different means. Where Bretton Woods tied all sovereign member state's currencies to gold, the eurozone eliminated sovereign currencies replacing each nation's previous currency with the euro. This may have been a safeguard to ensure the long term adherence to the new currency and agreements, with all participants knowing that the Bretton Woods system disintegrated when member states unilaterally withdrew from the agreements of that time without repercussion. Knowing that sovereign subjection to a collaborative monetary policy does not always serve the economic or political interest of each state equally, the adoption of the euro assures that withdrawal from the system by each member is more difficult, having already exchanged their currency for the currency within the group system.

The withdrawal from Bretton Woods in 1971 under United states President Nixon effectively removed the USD from the gold standard, leaving it as a wholly fiat and floating currency tied to nothing more than the faith and credit of the United States. This withdrawal from Bretton Woods was instigated by the rise in government spending, lack of available gold supply to sustain Bretton Woods compliant convertibility, unforeseen economic growth, and the resultant devaluation of the dollar. The gold standard was limiting economic growth simply due to a lack of supply of gold. This lack finite supply increases the price, resulting in an economic cap, whereas a floating fiat currency allows for unlimited growth for as long and as much as the world is willing to accept the faith and credit of the nation backing the currency, in this case the United States government.

Once the USD was removed from the gold standard there was a time of severe challenges to central bank monetary policy. The dollar initially took a steep decline as markets adjusted to the new fiat status of the currency and in response to this decline the Federal Reserve resorted to increasing the money supply, mistakenly following the Phillips curve theory which correlated an increased money supply with growth. This increased money supply, along with other misguided policies of the time, led to high inflation and other serious economic consequences. This was stopped when Paul Volcker became Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Phillips curve policies were abandoned, and a focus on price stability was instituted. This among many other economic and political changes stabilized the USD throughout the 1980's.

The important facts of note with regard to the USD is that its current state as a floating fiat currency, having only been in existence for 40 years, is still being examined and studied as to its long term viability and impact on the economy of the United States and the world. It was only a few decades before that Bretton Woods was established to stabilize and tie the currency down having been significantly altered just a few decades before with the introduction of the Federal Reserve. Understanding the dynamic changes that can occur within a single generation is critical to understanding the currency itself as it stands now and as it will evolve into the future.

Other References
Wikipedia article on US Dollar
XE.com Live Currency Converter for USD

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