Singapore 44th National Day - a peek to the past

One more week and Singapore will celebrate its 44th National Day.

44 years is long in a man's life. However, it is relatively short in a country's history.

Singapore was occupied by Japan from 1942 till 1945. During this period, Japanese introduced a new currency, Banana money. As expected, when Japan lost the war, the Banana money basically become stacks of worthless paper. As mentioned in previous posting (http://mycroeconomics.blogspot.com/2009/07/gold-for-alien-attack.html), unlike gold, the value of fiat money depends on the credibility and capability of the issuer government.

Other than the well-known Banana money, the Japanese also used military exchange note. See below. It guaranteed full value exchange, and warned heavy punishment for counterfeit.

While celebrating the National Day, it is important to know what exactly is the celebaration.