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Soundest Money: Liechtenstein is tied economically, meaning in customs, currency and the like, to Switzerland, and therefore enjoys the soundest money in the world, but it prints its own interesting postage stamps and makes a fine profit from each new series. The local language is German. Connections with everywhere are good, since it lies on the main rail route (Orient Express, etc.) from Paris through Zurich to Innsbruck, Salzburg and Vienna.
When Your Dollars Turn to Escudos Escudo means shield or escutcheon and Portugal's currency escutcheon, though worth only 3% cents, is one of Europe's two hardest and soundest currencies, the other being the Swiss franc. You can easily change dollars into escudos anywhere in Portugal (about 28 for $1) and if you have some left when you're ready to leave, you can change them back into dollars. That may be an item of real news to you, and certainly it is a big score for Portugal's fiscal soundness. You'll find many legal cambio (exchange) offices in Lisbon, especially on Rua Aurea, and in them you can buy or sell just about any money you want or no longer want.
GRESHAM'S LAW, gresh'amz, in economics, is usually stated as "bad money drives out good." The law stems from the fact that money has a value both as money and as a commodity in the open market. The former value is set arbitrarily by law and is relatively fixed; the latter is determined by supply and demand and varies from time to time, "Good money" has a higher value as a commodity than as money and will disappear from circulation. |
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