Currency shapes everything from daily transactions to global trade, yet most people rarely think about why we have different currencies in the first place. The idea of a world currency surfaces ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about economic policy for the 21st century. At a G8 world currency meeting in 2009, Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev ...

A new world currency can improve cross-border transactions and financial access. Addressing security, stability and regulatory challenges is vital for the new currency's long-term global impact ...

This new currency would consist of a basket of major Western currencies weighted by GDP, and would replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency.

A unified global currency could transform trade but faces complex economic and political hurdles.