Crossword clues for seigniorage
seigniorage
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Brassage \Bras"sage\, n. [F.] A sum formerly levied to pay the expense of coinage; -- now called seigniorage.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-15c., from Old French seignorage, from seignor (see seignior).
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context historical English) All the revenue obtained by a feudal lord from his vassals. 2 The revenue obtained directly by minting coin (difference between cost of metal and face value). 3 (context finance English) The revenue obtained by the difference between interest earned on security acquired in exchange for bank notes and the costs of producing and distributing those notes.
WordNet
n. charged by a government for coining bullion
Wikipedia
Seigniorage , also spelled seignorage or seigneurage (from Old French seigneuriage "right of the lord (seigneur) to mint money"), is the difference between the value of money and the cost to produce and distribute it. The term can be applied in the following ways:
- Seigniorage derived from specie—metal coins—is a tax, added to the total price of a coin (metal content and production costs), that a customer of the mint had to pay to the mint, and that was sent to the sovereign of the political area.
- Seigniorage derived from notes is more indirect, being the difference between interest earned on securities acquired in exchange for bank notes and the costs of producing and distributing those notes.
The term also applies to monetary seignorage, where sovereign-issued securities are exchanged for newly minted bank notes by a central bank, thus allowing the sovereign to 'borrow' without needing to repay. However, monetary seignorage refers to the sovereign revenue obtained through routine debt monetization, including expanding the money supply during GDP growth and meeting yearly inflation targets.
Seigniorage is a convenient source of revenue for some governments.
Usage examples of "seigniorage".
The heavy seigniorage tax on gold and silver, and the costs of transportation by way of Panama, also sent a stream of contraband metal from Charcas to Buenos Aires, where it found eager buyers among the Portuguese traders from Brazil, who even founded the town of Colonia on the opposite bank of the estuary to facilitate their hazardous traffic.
Copernicus advocated a universal coinage, to be adopted by all civilized nations, and the amount of alloy should be known and plainly stated, and this alloy should simply be the seigniorage, or what was taken out to cover the cost of mintage.