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On the Private Provision of Fiat Currency

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  • Berentsen, Aleksander

Abstract

This paper considers whether fiat money can be provided by a revenue-maximizing monopolist in an environment where money is essential. Two questions arise concerning the private supply of money: Is it feasible and is it optimal? Concerning the feasibility question, I show that the revenue-maximizing policy is time-consistent if the trading history of the issuer is public information and if money demanders respond to the revelation of defection by playing autarky. Concerning the optimality question, the model suggests that any private organization of the market for fiat currency is suboptimal.

Suggested Citation

  • Berentsen, Aleksander, 2005. "On the Private Provision of Fiat Currency," MPRA Paper 36601, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:36601
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Choi, Michael & Rocheteau, Guillaume, 2022. "Money mining and price dynamics: The case of divisible currencies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    2. Daniel Sanches, 2016. "On The Welfare Properties Of Fractional Reserve Banking," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(3), pages 935-954, August.
    3. Daniel Sanches, 2016. "On the Inherent Instability of Private Money," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 20, pages 198-214, April.
    4. Pingle, Mark & Mukhopadhyay, Sankar, 2010. "Private money as a competing medium of exchange," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 541-554, June.
    5. Daniel R. Sanches, 2013. "Banking crises and the role of bank coalitions," Working Papers 13-28, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    6. Fernández-Villaverde, Jesús & Sanches, Daniel, 2019. "Can currency competition work?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 1-15.
    7. Jesús Fernández‐Villaverde, 2018. "Cryptocurrencies: A Crash Course in Digital Monetary Economics," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 51(4), pages 514-526, December.
    8. Carli, Francesco & Uras, Burak, 2022. "Money, E-money, and Consumer Welfare," Other publications TiSEM d6c0389e-1036-4748-9040-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Daniel R. Sanches, 2013. "On the welfare properties of fractional reserve banking," Working Papers 13-32, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    10. van Buggenum, Hugo & Gersbach, Hans & Zelzner, Sebastian, 2023. "Contagious Stablecoins?," CEPR Discussion Papers 18521, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Waknis, Parag, 2017. "Competitive Supply of Money in a New Monetarist Model," MPRA Paper 75401, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Andolfatto, David & Berentsen, Aleksander & Waller, Christopher, 2016. "Monetary policy with asset-backed money," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 166-186.
    13. Gilbert Bougi, 2005. "Pourquoi le problème monétaire de Menger reste-t-il non résolu?," CAE Working Papers 31, Aix-Marseille Université, CERGAM.
    14. Waknis, Parag, 2014. "A Leviathan central bank: Modeling seigniorage in a money search model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 125(3), pages 386-391.
    15. Dwyer, Gerald P, 2014. "The Economics of Private Digital Currency," MPRA Paper 55824, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Almosova, Anna, 2018. "A Monetary Model of Blockchain," IRTG 1792 Discussion Papers 2018-008, Humboldt University of Berlin, International Research Training Group 1792 "High Dimensional Nonstationary Time Series".
    17. Parag Waknis, 2011. "Endogenous Monetary Policy: A Leviathan Central Bank in a Lagos-Wright Economy," Working papers 2011-20, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    18. Dwyer, Gerald P., 2015. "The economics of Bitcoin and similar private digital currencies," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 81-91.
    19. Daniel Sanches, 2016. "On The Welfare Properties Of Fractional Reserve Banking," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57, pages 935-954, August.
    20. Almosova, Anna, 2018. "A Monetary Model of Blockchain," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181502, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    21. Almosova, Anna, 2018. "A Note on Cryptocurrencies and Currency Competition," IRTG 1792 Discussion Papers 2018-006, Humboldt University of Berlin, International Research Training Group 1792 "High Dimensional Nonstationary Time Series".

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Time Consistency; Private Money; Search Equilibrium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit

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