Seigniorage revenue and monetary policy: some preliminary evidence

Producing new money is inexpensive, making seigniorage--the revenues earned from creating new money--attractive. However, the social costs of faster money creation most likely are greater than the production costs. These marginal social costs may put limits on how much real seigniorage revenue the government can earn. In this article, Joseph Haslag looks across countries to assess the typical reliance on seigniorage revenue. In addition, Haslag determines whether countries with combinations of high rates of money growth and high reserve requirements tend to rely especially heavily on seigniorage revenue.