From Econbrowser:
Who is holding all those U.S. dollars?
If recent trends continue, in a few months there will be $1.2 trillion in Federal Reserve notes (otherwise known as dollar bills) in circulation. Who is holding all these?
One clue comes from looking at the denominations: 3/4 of the currency held by the public is in the form of hundred-dollar bills.
Share of U.S. currency outstanding by denomination. Source: Judson (2012).
Personally I never use $100 bills. So the first thing I know is, whoever is holding most of that currency, it's not people like me.
And $100 bills account for most of the growth in currency over the last two decades.
U.S. currency levels, 1988-2011. Source: Judson (2012).
A recent paper by Federal Reserve economist Ruth Judson uses a variety of methods to infer that many of those $100 bills are being held outside the United States, where U.S. currency is sometimes regarded as a safer store of value than other local options....MORE
