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Seigniorage and Fixed Exchange Rates: An Optimal Inflation Tax Analysis

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  • Stanley Fischer

Abstract

A country that decides to fix its exchange rate thereby gives up control over its own inflation rate and the determination of the revenue received from seigniorage. If the country goes further and uses a foreign money, it loses all seigniorage. This paper uses an optimal inflation tax approach to analyze the consequences for optimal rates of income taxation and welfare of the alternative exchange rate and monetary arrangements. From the viewpoint of seigniorage, a system in which the country is free to determine its own rates of inflation is optimal; fixed exchange rates are second best, and the use of a foreign money is worse. The paper notes that seigniorage is only one of the factors determining the choice of optimal exchange rate regime, but also points out that rates of seigniorage collection are high, typically accounting for five or more percent of government revenue.

Suggested Citation

  • Stanley Fischer, 1981. "Seigniorage and Fixed Exchange Rates: An Optimal Inflation Tax Analysis," NBER Working Papers 0783, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0783
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fischer, Stanley, 1972. "Money, income, wealth, and welfare," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 289-311, April.
    2. Barro, Robert J, 1972. "Inflationary Finance and the Welfare Cost of Inflation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(5), pages 978-1001, Sept.-Oct.
    3. John Kareken & Neil Wallace, 1981. "On the Indeterminacy of Equilibrium Exchange Rates," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 96(2), pages 207-222.
    4. Diamond, Peter A & Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production: I--Production Efficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 8-27, March.
    5. Friedman, Milton, 1971. "Government Revenue from Inflation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(4), pages 846-856, July-Aug..
    6. Diamond, Peter A & Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production II: Tax Rules," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(3), pages 261-278, June.
    7. Aghevli, Bijan B, 1977. "Inflationary Finance and Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(6), pages 1295-1307, December.
    8. Drazen, Allan, 1979. "The optimal rate of inflation revisited," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 231-248, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Zou, Heng-Fu, 1993. "Dollarization and inflation in a two-country optimization model," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 209-220, April.
    2. Fernando Ossa, 1988. "El Sistema Monetario Internacional en los Últimos Veinticinco Años," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 25(76), pages 405-430.
    3. Petr Mach & Tomáš Hanzák, 2004. "Ražebné ve spojitém čase [Seigniorage in continuous time]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2004(4), pages 531-536.
    4. Ahmad JafariSamimi & Habib Ansari Samani & Younes Nademi, 2011. "Inflation and Inflation Tax in Iran: A Threshold Regression ‘Laffer Curve’ Model," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 3(3), pages 163-168.
    5. Rigobon, Roberto, 2002. "Disinflation and fiscal reform: a neoclassical perspective," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 265-297, December.

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