Globalization and money - two concepts inextricably linked. In many ways the speed with which financial resources traverse the globe, the opportunities which this provides for the efficient allocation of resources, the possibilities which this creates for financial crises and traders who act as agents removed from the concerns of national citizens have come to symbolize the phenomenon, hopes and fears of 'globalization'.

However, inextricably linked they may be, but well understood they are not. In the case of national currencies, a wide variety of predictions and analyses...