Walter B. Wriston on Seigniorage

Walter B. Wriston on Seigniorage
(Money - Back to the Future? given at Claremont McKenna College on 20 November 1996 in Claremont, California)
As David Glasner has pointed out, "Besides the attraction any revenue source has for a sovereign, the monopoly over coinage had a particular advantage the ancient state was loath to relinquish. Because the monopoly over coinage could be exploited quickly in an emergency, it was a welcome source of funds in wartime when other revenue sources could not generate additional funds as quickly." It is still a welcome source of funds, and it is no accident that the Federal Reserve is the most profitable organization in the world. The government has myriad ways to make money by having a monopoly on the production of money. Indeed the word "seigniorage", which is the fee charged for minting coins, has come to signify the right of the sovereign to this monopoly.

- Walter B. Wriston, banker and former chairman of Citicorp (as chief executive of Citibank / Citicorp - later Citigroup - from 1967-1984, Wriston was widely regarded as the single most influential commercial banker of his time)