With the start of the new year in 2002, the 12 members of the European Union launched a single currency across their borders, replacing individual country currencies and singling out the Euro as their one shared monetary denomination. Marketplace, a daily economics news program heard on National Public Radio, featured a story on January 2, 2002, about the currency change of the landmark event. (This lesson should be used as an introduction to this topic. There is another Economics Minute The Euro Makes its Debut that would be a good follow-up to this lesson.)