Word: dollarization
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Kenneth Lawson, a Seattle lawyer, was surprised to find that an old friend in France had become somewhat chilly. "He constantly made digs about how the artificially high rate of the dollar was ruining the franc and the French economy," says Lawson. "I'd definitely say the high dollar has hindered our ! friendship." A Los Angeles sales-promotion executive, Vicki Carr, experienced some hostility in Britain about lavish American spending on luxuries that Britons can ill afford. Says she: "In the past I felt Londoners were very, very friendly. This year they were not that helpful, not that willing...
Since the dollar is strong and products are such bargains abroad, why are many imports still so costly at home? That is the puzzler for American shoppers who had hoped that their high-flying currency would provide hometown bargains on luxury products ranging from cashmere sweaters to Dunhill gold cigarette lighters...
According to the economic textbooks, the price of imports should go down when the value of a country's currency goes up. Reason: when the dollar is worth more francs, marks or lira, products originally priced in those currencies should be correspondingly cheaper. In the theoretical world of economists, a British suit that costs (pounds)150 in London should sell in the U.S. for $300, plus a little more for shipping and import duties, when the pound is worth $2. If the value of the pound drops to $1, that same suit should cost...
...West German luxury automakers, BMW and Daimler-Benz, have avoided giving any ground on their U.S. prices. Instead, the car companies claim to have compensated for the dollar's rise by providing American customers with extra features at no additional charge. For example, BMW's 735i model, with a base price of $36,880, this year includes a larger engine and a more advanced braking system. "Normally, a redesigned car model would go up 8%," says Stephen Houston, sales manager at a dealership in Santa Monica, Calif. "But you can buy a 1985 BMW with more features for roughly...
...factory in St. Paul. The firm represented Fuller Brush's insurance company against third parties accused of responsibility for the fire and won a substantial award. A string of similar victories followed, and in the early '70s, Robins Zelle's national reputation was made when it chalked up million-dollar victories for insurance clients in three industrial-explosion cases. Since 1974, the firm has grown from 38 to 152 lawyers, with six offices around the country...