Who is Holding the Large-Denomination Bills?
Most currency in major economies around the world is held in the form of large-denomination bills that ordinary people rarely use--or even see. Kenneth Rogoff documents the pattern as part of his short essay, "Costs and benefits to phasing out paper currency," presented at a conference at the National Bureau of Economic Research in April 2014.
I think I've held a $100 bill in my hand perhaps once in the last decade (and my memory is that the bill belonged to someone else). But the U.S. has $924.7 billion worth of $100 bills in circulation, which represent by value about 77% of all U.S. currency in circulation. In round numbers, say that the U.S. population is 300 million. That works out to roughly 31 $100 bills, on average, for every man, woman, and child in the United States. Here's the table:
It's not just a U.S. phenomenon, either. Here are numbers for the euro. The euro has larger-denomination currency in common circulation than does the U.S., including 200- and 500-euro notes. More than half of all the euro notes in circulation, by value, are worth 100 euros or more, and 500-euro notes alone make up 30% of all euros in circulation....MORE
