I believe money which is never redeemed back at the bank is called signorage in the currency biz. Whatever signorage *actually* is, Kawika Daquio of the ABA (B for "Banking"), the Fed makes $20 billion a year on it. Not much against a trillion dollar federal budget, but, hey, every little bit helps...
Seigniorage is actually the Government's interest income on all the currency in circulation. It's not obvious, but it's true, that the Fed collects the "float" on dollar bills you carry in your pocket, exactly as American Express collects the float on traveler's checks. And, I don't know, call me crazy, but $20 billion sounds like a lot of money to me. -- James Gleick gleick@around.com http://www.around.com
On Thu, 4 Apr 1996, James Gleick wrote:
Seigniorage is actually the Government's interest income on all the currency in circulation. It's not obvious, but it's true, that the Fed
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James Gleick writes:
I believe money which is never redeemed back at the bank is called signorage in the currency biz. Whatever signorage *actually* is, Kawika Daquio of the ABA (B for "Banking"), the Fed makes $20 billion a year on it. Not much against a trillion dollar federal budget, but, hey, every little bit helps...
Seigniorage is actually the Government's interest income on all the currency in circulation.
Seignorage is neither of these things. It is the difference between the cost of producing a currency token (like a quarter or a dollar bill) and the face value of the token. In essense, its the profit margin on printing or minting money.
It's not obvious, but it's true, that the Fed collects the "float" on dollar bills you carry in your pocket,
Oh, really? From whom? First I've heard of this. Now, it is indeed true that the Fed holds large numbers of government bonds and theoretically earns interest on them, and that banks in a free banking system do indeed loan out the money that backs their notes. However, the fed has no mechanism to earn interest on dollar bills, nor, in fact, does it need to. Perry
participants (3)
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James Gleick -
Perry E. Metzger -
Simon Spero