Zimbabwe's coalition government declared the US dollar legal tender last year to eradicate world record inflation of billions of percent in the local Zimbabwe dollar as the economy collapsed.
Low-denomination US bank notes change hands until they fall apart, and the bills are routinely carried in underwear and shoes through crime-ridden slums.Some have become almost too smelly to handle, so Zimbabweans have taken to putting their $1 bills through the spin cycle and hanging them up to dry with clothes pins alongside sheets and items of clothing.It's the best solution — apart from rubber gloves or disinfectant wipes — in a continent where the US dollar has long been the currency of choice and where the lifespan of a dollar far exceeds what the US Federal Reserve intends.
Full story here. ht: Tyler Cowen
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