dollar
Monetary unit of several countries, containing 100 cents. The US dollar, adopted in 1785, has been the leading international reserve currency since World War II. US dollars originally were issued as gold or silver coins; today both metal and paper dollars circulate, but paper predominates. Australia, Canada, and Hong Kong are among the other countries that use the dollar unit. None of these was equivalent in value until the Canadian currency reached parity with, and then surpassed, the US dollar during 2007 as the latter fell sharply in turbulent market conditions stemming from a crisis in the US mortgage lending market.
| The US dollar emerged from World War II as the standard currency for international trade. Commodities, even if priced in other currencies, were valued at the prevailing dollar exchange rate. Rising US imports, especially of oil, and government spending resulted in large numbers of dollars held in foreign hands with the resultant devaluation of the dollar by the 1980s. The currency recovered in the 1990s before beginning to fall again in 2002 following the introduction of the euro. Despite a rebound in 2005, when it increased in value against both the euro and the yen, the dollar has since come under pressure again as a result of growing US budget and trade deficits. In September 2007 the Federal Reserve cut its interest rates for the first time in four years in an attempt to calm financial market concerns over sub-prime mortgage defaults. |
Dollar
| Town and former burgh in Clackmannanshire unitary authority, Scotland, 10 km/6 mi northeast of Alloa; population (2001) 2,900. The ruins of the 15th-century stronghold of Castle Campbell stand above the town to the north. |
