Economics
Mini-Bills Spring From Italy's Creative-Currency Tradition
- Nation has long tradition of experimenting with payment forms
- Populists’ latest plan causes stir as government looks divided
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Young Jens Weidmann was puzzled. While vacationing with his family in Italy during the late ’70s, the future Bundesbank president wondered why locals sometimes used phone tokens in lieu of actual coins.
It was an early lesson in European economics. With the value of the country’s lira falling faster than phone booths could be adjusted, tokens offered an easy alternative. A coin shortage had also prompted Italians to use their ingenuity, with some opting to use candies or stamps for micro transactions, though tokens remained the preferred fill-in currency.