On today’s lesson: How to make money. The euro area is getting new banknotes. But twenty countries share a currency, so what should be on those new banknotes?
Lesson summary
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Coming up today on lesson number 611: Making money is harder than you think. First, you need a design. What are the banknotes going to look like? That’s where the European Central Bank is getting stuck. They’re re-designing the euro paper notes, but it’s not easy to decide what, exactly, should go on the money for a bloc of 20 countries.
In the second half of the lesson, I’ll show you how to use the English expression “hard-pressed.” And it’s Thursday, so we have a song of the week. Let’s get going.
Making money: what to put on the new euro?
The euro, as a common currency, was born on January 1, 1999. For its first three years, it existed as a digital currency only—it existed on bank balances and ledgers, alongside national currencies, but there were no coins or paper bills.
The first circulating coins and banknotes debuted on January 1, 2002. I was in Germany that day. I remember people anxiously getting their hands on their first paper notes, touching and handling the bills and coins that would be their money for the rest of their lives.
The euro paper bills come in denominations of €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200 and €500, although they’ve stopped printing the €500 note. The paper notes feature illustrations of bridges, windows, and architecture. But these illustrations don’t depict any actual, existing bridge, window, or building.
The illustrations are composite, made-up drawings meant to show general styles that do exist in Europe. The design is the ultimate expression of European compromise: dull, but at least it doesn’t offend anyone. There have been some security improvements over the years , but the designs today are little changed from the original banknotes of 2002.
But that is about to change, as the European Central Bank has launched a project to redesign the banknotes. But what should go on the new paper currency?
Some countries put just one figure on all their notes. Britain’s paper money shows its current monarch. Turkey puts its founder on every bill. Brazil has a personification of the republic on every bill.
Many countries, like the U.S., combine ex-presidents, luminaries, monuments, or historical places. Some depict plant or animal life. Mexico’s $100 bill includes a monarch butterfly. In Fiji, a banknote depicts a large insect. The NT$500 bill includes a picture of a baseball team—now that’s a design I can get behind! Norway has a contemporary pixelated design meant to evoke images of the sea.
Europe, though, presents a unique challenge. The European Union has 27 member states, 20 of which use the euro currency. And the challenge with the currency mirrors so many other challenges of the European project: how can you build consensus without isolating any one country?
This is hard. There are so many great things about Europe, you would think that designers would be spoiled for choice . Start with landmarks. The Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum in Rome, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. But there are only six banknotes, each with a front and a back. You can easily see how the twenty countries might not agree on which landmarks make it—and which get the most prominent positions.
Now, what about people? Europe, the European Union, doesn’t have outsized historical figures. The E.U. has always been technocratic: even citizens of the E.U. would be hard-pressed to name the eleven men considered founders. Power is so dispersed within the E.U. that one person’s contributions rarely stand out like they do in individual countries. So kings, queens, and presidents are out.
How about artists, philosophers, or scientists? This runs into the same problem as landmarks: can all 20 countries agree on famous artists and scientists? But there’s another problem. Many of Europe’s great artists and thinkers lived in a time when “Europe” was a continent, not a political entity.
Has anyone described Leonardo da Vinci as a “European” artist? No! He’s an Italian artist. So famous artists, scientists, and philosophers don’t represent Europe as a whole so much as they represent countries in Europe.
What about the great explorers, Magellan, Columbus, Hernando Cortés? Let’s not even go there: the moral ledger of European exploration is decidedly mixed.
This is hard. If you think of Europe today, especially the European Union, the one thing that binds all the people together is values. When I think of “European values,” I think of fair play, consumer protection, respect for individuals and minorities, human rights, democracy, rule of law, protection of the environment, economic stability (mostly).
And indeed that is where the European Central Bank is going with its currency redesign: values. But there is just one problem with putting values on a banknote: what do values even look like?
On Monday, we’ll talk about how Europe is planning to resolve this problem.
I said I was in Germany on the first day of the euro paper currency. That’s one of my favorite travel memories. I, obviously, was seeing the euro for the first time. But so was everyone else—and this was their money. So everyone was getting used to how to pay, what bills to use, how to make change, what the coins looked like. It was fun to watch.
But then one of my worst travel memories came just a few days later. On that same trip, I had collected banknotes from France, Germany, Belgium, and Austria, knowing that they were all about to be retired. And then I lost my wallet in my final days in Europe, so I lost my francs, shillings, and marks. And I haven’t seen those currencies since.
Song of the week
Today’s song of the week is “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash was a famous country singer and the subject of a great biopic movie from 2005. It’s called “Walk the Line.” If you haven’t seen “Walk the Line,” I highly recommend it.
Anyway, the song “Ring of Wife,” was written by Johnny Cash’s second wife, June Carter Cash. And it describes love as a “burning ring of fire.” The lyrics go, in part, ” I fell into a burning ring of fire. Went down, down, down. And the flames went higher.”
Johnny Cash, “Ring of Fire” is the song of the week, and if you’re looking for a good biopic movie about a singer, check out the movie about his life, “Walk the Line.” Reese Witherspoon plays June Carter Cash and she’s excellent in this movie.
You would be hard-pressed to find a better biopic of a country singer—and coming up next, I’ll show you just what “hard-pressed” means.
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