Caroline Paulsen, Chapter 11, Question 5

One passage that I found particularly interesting in this chapter was titled "funny money", which addresses currencies that don't have value internationally. In this section, Charles Wheelan gives an example of one particular "soft" currency, the East German mark, which only had purchasing power in the communist world. Charles Wheelan had to exchange "hard currency" for East German marks at a seemingly arbitrary exchange rate at a checkpoint to enter East Germany. When leaving East Berlin, the remainder of his East German marks were purportedly put on an account under his name, which may still exist, even though the currency is now useless. This part of chapter 5 was especially memorable because it emphasizes the fact that currency is only worth something because we've decided that it's worth something.