Plastic money

Source - The Economist

Over the last decade, the American Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing has been looking into the resilience of the dollar. Not in terms of its value but its real physical structure. They have been researching the use of plastic banknotes and have been comparing it to the traditional paper version.

Many countries around the world have already adopted the use of plastic money such as Mexico, Kuwait, Indonesia, Chile and Zambia, which are part of a host of 23 countries who have tried out plastic notes.

Any money should be durable and have security measures to protect it from counterfeit versions. Certainly, the plastic versions are far harder to counterfeit. They are also harder to tear and on average last four times longer than paper versions and also carry less germs.

However, the European Central Bank (ECB) has stuck to the use of paper notes and America has no plans to switch from the traditional paper. As well as being expensive to change the money, it is arguable to say that Americans would find plastic money too cheap looking and strange.