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Giving Up the Swiss Franc: Some Consideration on Seigniorage Flows Under EMU

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  • Fischer, Andreas
  • Jordan, Thomas
  • Lack, Caesar

Abstract

The monetary debate in Switzerland about joining the European Monetary Union (EMU) has primarily focused on the gains in terms of transaction costs and lower uncertainty from using a common currency versus the sacrifice of giving up an independent monetary policy. This Paper considers an additional factor in this debate, namely the decrease of seigniorage for Switzerland in the case of joining EMU. Our calculations reveal that this loss of revenues is not trivial. Swiss currency holdings per capita are among the largest in the world. They are estimated to be 5'000 Swiss francs per capita in 2002. If Switzerland joined EMU at that time, about half of the seigniorage stemming from the previous Swiss franc currency circulation would be redistributed among the EMU member countries in the worst case. Our results indicate that Switzerland would be the third largest contributor of seigniorage in absolute terms after Germany and Spain. In relative terms, the Swiss per capita contribution would be more than four times as high as the German contribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Fischer, Andreas & Jordan, Thomas & Lack, Caesar, 2002. "Giving Up the Swiss Franc: Some Consideration on Seigniorage Flows Under EMU," CEPR Discussion Papers 3156, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3156
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    Cited by:

    1. Sandrine Levasseur, 2004. "Why not euroisation?," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 91(5), pages 121-156.
    2. Attila Csajbók (ed.) & Ágnes Csermely (ed.), 2002. "Adopting the euro in Hungary: expected costs, benefits and timing," MNB Occasional Papers 2002/24, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary).
    3. Beat Spirig & Rolf Weder, 2008. "To Wait or Not to Wait: Swiss EU-Membership as an Investment under Uncertainty," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 144(I), pages 85-114, March.
    4. Spirig, Beat & Weder, Rolf, 2004. "To Wait or Not to Wait: Swiss EU-Membership as an Investment under Uncertainty," Working papers 2004/10, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/3361 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/3361 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Seigniorage; Swiss national bank; The euro;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence

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