Why Mexico currency is Mexico peso not us dollar?

Answer 1

Every country has its own currency. Peso means weight and was originally a certain weight of gold. The earliest symbol used for the peso (the $) was originally formed by writing S and P one on top of the other. This SP represented the Spanish peso (commonly called a piece of eight) that could be broken into 8 pieces in order to make change. At the time the US first gained independence this "peso" was the most commonly used currency in the US (previously the US had used paper money called 'Continentals' which had fallen in value to near worthlessness). The US had little or no precious metal mining at the time and so used foreign currencies made out of gold. The Mexican peso remained a legal unit of American currency until 21 February 1857.

Currently the peso is not a unit of gold, rather the leaders of Mexico gradually reduced and eliminated the content of gold in the peso until it was composed of an outer ring of stainless steel and an inner core of bronze and aluminum. This is used to prevent people from shaving the outer sections of the precious metals and selling those fragments for their value while passing the coin on as worth its full value.

Mexico gains from having its own currency due to what is known as "seigniorage" in other words Mexico can produce pesos for less than their face value and so the Mexican government profits from every peso created (whether it be out of metal or through printing additional bills. This had led, in the past, to various governments the world over printing large numbers of new bills that have led to inflation, economic ruin, and revolutions. Generally speaking this tendency is kept in check (more or less) by having an independent central bank.

Because Mexico is part of Spanish America, thus, we have our own currency. That's part of our identity.