IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/jecper/v7y1993i4p175-84.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Case of the Missing Currency

Author

Listed:
  • Case M. Sprenkle

Abstract

In late 1992, currency in the hands of the public was close to $300 billion, representing nearly 30 percent of M1. One would think that an economic variable of this magnitude would be well-analyzed and well-understood. Quite the contrary. The last serious surveys of currency holdings commissioned by the Federal Reserve were in 1984 and 1986. These surveys indicate that currency demand is not at all understood. Probably the most intriguing and newsworthy result of these surveys was that about 80 percent of currency holdings simply could not be explained. Despite the stir of general interest that followed those studies, economists have shown little lasting interest in considering the implications of these findings. This paper is written in hopes of stimulating more interest in currency behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Case M. Sprenkle, 1993. "The Case of the Missing Currency," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 175-184, Fall.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:7:y:1993:i:4:p:175-84
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.7.4.175
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.7.4.175
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Whitesell, William C, 1989. "The Demand for Currency versus Debitable Accounts: A Note," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 21(2), pages 246-257, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kenneth S. Chan, 2001. "The Internationalisation of Hong Kong Dollar: An Analytical Framework," Working Papers 012001, Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research.
    2. Humphrey, David B., 2004. "Replacement of cash by cards in US consumer payments," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 211-225.
    3. Haughton, Jonathan, 1995. "Adding mystery to the case of the missing currency," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(35), pages 595-602.
    4. Albanesi, Stefania, 2007. "Inflation and inequality," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 1088-1114, May.
    5. Orazio P. Attanasio & Luigi Guiso & Tullio Jappelli, 2002. "The Demand for Money, Financial Innovation, and the Welfare Cost of Inflation: An Analysis with Household Data," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(2), pages 317-351, April.
    6. Judson, Ruth A. & Porter, Richard D., 2004. "Currency demand by federal reserve cash office: what do we know?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 273-285.
    7. Calza Alessandro & Zaghini Andrea, 2011. "Welfare Costs of Inflation and the Circulation of U.S. Currency Abroad," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, May.
    8. Brian M. Doyle, 2000. "\"Here, dollars, dollars ...\"estimating currency demand and worldwide currency substitution," International Finance Discussion Papers 657, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    9. Kenneth S. Chan, 2001. "Currency Substitution between Hong Kong Dollar and Renminbi in South China," Working Papers 022001, Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research.
    10. Garcés Díaz Daniel, 2017. "Explaining Inflation with a Classical Dichotomy Model and Switching Monetary Regimes: Mexico 1932-2013," Working Papers 2017-20, Banco de México.
    11. Malte Krueger & Charles Goodhart, 2001. "The Impact of Technology on Cash Usage," FMG Discussion Papers dp374, Financial Markets Group.
    12. Erosa, Andres & Ventura, Gustavo, 2002. "On inflation as a regressive consumption tax," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 761-795, May.
    13. Oomes, Nienke & Ohnsorge, Franziska, 2005. "Money demand and inflation in dollarized economies: The case of Russia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 462-483, September.
    14. Hafer, R. W. & Haslag, Joseph H. & Hein, Scott E., 1996. "Implementing monetary base rules: The currency problem," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 461-472, December.
    15. Assenmacher, Katrin & Seitz, Franz & Tenhofen, Jörn, 2017. "The use of large denomination banknotes in Switzerland," International Cash Conference 2017 – War on Cash: Is there a Future for Cash? 162917, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    16. Ghezavati , V. R., 2012. "A New Mathematical Model to Design Optimum Denomination of Coins and Banknotes Range (ODCBR)," Journal of Money and Economy, Monetary and Banking Research Institute, Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, vol. 6(4), pages 167-186, July.
    17. Feige, Edgar L., 2011. "New estimates of U.S. currency abroad, the domestic money supply and the unreported Economy," MPRA Paper 34778, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Kamin, Steven B. & Ericsson, Neil R., 2003. "Dollarization in post-hyperinflationary Argentina," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 185-211, April.
    19. Hancock, Diana & Humphrey, David B., 1997. "Payment transactions, instruments, and systems: A survey," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(11-12), pages 1573-1624, December.
    20. John Anderson & Hendrik van den Berg, 1998. "Fiscal Decentralization and Government Size: An International Test for Leviathan Accounting for Unmeasured Economic Activity," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 5(2), pages 171-186, May.
    21. Feige, Edgar L., 2009. "New estimates of overseas U.S. currency holdings, the Underground economy and the "Tax Gap"," MPRA Paper 19564, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Camera, Gabriele, 2001. "Dirty money," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 377-415, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bruno Karoubi & Régis Chenavaz & Corina Paraschiv, 2016. "Consumers’ perceived risk and hold and use of payment instruments," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(14), pages 1317-1329, March.
    2. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2015_022 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Carlos Arango & Yassine Bouhdaoui & David Bounie & Martina Eschelbach & Lola Hernández, 2013. "Cash Management and Payment Choices: A Simulation Model with International Comparisons," Staff Working Papers 13-53, Bank of Canada.
    4. Snellman, Heli, 2006. "Automated teller machine network market structure and cash usage," Bank of Finland Scientific Monographs, Bank of Finland, volume 0, number sm2006_038, July.
    5. Tarkka, Juha, 1994. "Risk sharing in the pricing of payment services by banks," Research Discussion Papers 18/1994, Bank of Finland.
    6. Schuh, Scott & Stavins, Joanna, 2010. "Why are (some) consumers (finally) writing fewer checks? The role of payment characteristics," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1745-1758, August.
    7. David Bounie & Abel François, 2006. "Les déterminants de la détention et de l’usage des instruments de paiement : éléments théoriques et empiriques," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 83(2), pages 159-176.
    8. Columba, Francesco, 2009. "Narrow money and transaction technology: New disaggregated evidence," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 312-325, July.
    9. Schmidt-Dengler, Philipp & Stix, Helmut & Huynh, Kim P., 2014. "The Role of Card Acceptance in the Transaction Demand for Money," CEPR Discussion Papers 10183, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Snellman, Heli & Virén, Matti, 2006. "ATM networks and cash usage," Research Discussion Papers 21/2006, Bank of Finland.
    11. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2006_021 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Alvarez, Fernando & Lippi, Francesco, 2017. "Cash burns: An inventory model with a cash-credit choice," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 99-112.
    13. Constanza Martínez Ventura, 2019. "The use of cash and debit cards as payment instruments in Colombia," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 90, pages 71-95, Enero - J.
    14. Brown, Martin & Hentschel, Nicole & Mettler, Hannes & Stix, Helmut, 2022. "The convenience of electronic payments and consumer cash demand," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 86-102.
    15. John Bagnall & David Bounie & Kim P. Huynh & Anneke Kosse & Tobias Schmidt & Scott Schuh, 2016. "Consumer Cash Usage: A Cross-Country Comparison with Payment Diary Survey Data," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 12(4), pages 1-61, December.
    16. repec:zbw:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201511251450 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Alvarez, Fernando & Lippi, Francesco, 2013. "The demand of liquid assets with uncertain lumpy expenditures," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(7), pages 753-770.
    18. Zinman, Jonathan, 2009. "Debit or credit?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 358-366, February.
    19. Bouhdaoui, Y. & Bounie, D. & François, A., 2014. "Convenient prices, cash payments and price rigidity," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 329-337.
    20. Tarkka, Juha, 1994. "Risk sharing in the pricing of payment services by banks," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 18/1994, Bank of Finland.
    21. David Bounie & Marc Bourreau & Abel François & Marianne Verdier, 2008. "La détention et l’usage des instruments de paiement en France," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 91(1), pages 53-76.
    22. Bruno Karoubi & R駩s Chenavaz, 2015. "Prices for cash and cash for prices? Theory and evidence on convenient pricing," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(38), pages 4102-4115, August.
    23. Duca, John V. & VanHoose, David D., 2004. "Recent developments in understanding the demand for money," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 247-272.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E41 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Demand for Money

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:7:y:1993:i:4:p:175-84. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.