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"The Bank of England destroys between 10-30 billion pounds worth of notes per year (no longer fit for circulation)." The difference is that when BoE destroys n

"The Bank of England destroys between 10-30 billion pounds worth of notes per year (no longer fit for circulation)." The difference is that when BoE destroys notes they are accounted for by either the issuing of new notes and or crediting their withdrawal with a bank-entry credit thus the money in circulation does not change. Burning notes willy nilly effectively reduces the amount of currency in circulation because the central bank thinks the money still in circulation and doesn't replace it. This is why in many countries defacing or destroying the currency is unlawful.

yard2010 3y ago
I believe he meant it's such a low number it wouldn't be relevant anyway - same as merging facebook accounts with wifey to not take that space on facebook
- mypastself 3y ago
  Yes, but e.g. even though the gravitational force exerted by my body affects you only in miniscule amounts, it’s still there. (Miniscule until I manage to stuff my face with enough donuts.)
- hilbert42 3y ago
  Right, clearly burning a million or perhaps even quite some millions would have a negligible effect on the currency, similarly millions in counterfeit money would have to be circulated to actually destabilize the currency (that's assuming the dud notes aren't noticed first). Clearly, in modern times in modern democracies it's very unlikely that in any practical scenario that some entity would be capable of unofficially adding or withdrawing enough money from a currency to actually destabilize it, moreover in such an event the central bank/government would be onto it in seconds. It's however an altogether different scenario if the citizenry somehow has the perception that the currency isn't exactly what the central bank purports it to be. Just the notion that something may be wrong with the currency could destabilize it, hence hellishly tight laws to ensure this never happens.

yard2010 3y ago

I believe he meant it's such a low number it wouldn't be relevant anyway - same as merging facebook accounts with wifey to not take that space on facebook

mypastself 3y ago
Yes, but e.g. even though the gravitational force exerted by my body affects you only in miniscule amounts, it’s still there. (Miniscule until I manage to stuff my face with enough donuts.)
hilbert42 3y ago
Right, clearly burning a million or perhaps even quite some millions would have a negligible effect on the currency, similarly millions in counterfeit money would have to be circulated to actually destabilize the currency (that's assuming the dud notes aren't noticed first). Clearly, in modern times in modern democracies it's very unlikely that in any practical scenario that some entity would be capable of unofficially adding or withdrawing enough money from a currency to actually destabilize it, moreover in such an event the central bank/government would be onto it in seconds. It's however an altogether different scenario if the citizenry somehow has the perception that the currency isn't exactly what the central bank purports it to be. Just the notion that something may be wrong with the currency could destabilize it, hence hellishly tight laws to ensure this never happens.