之前我只是从物价、通货膨胀和实用性思考这一有趣的现象，今天逛Sydney Morning Herald网站首页看到We need to scrap the $100 note这个标题时，我也以为会涉及这几个角度。点进去看才发现别有洞天，觉得很长知识，所以决定粗略翻译一下。
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英文原文请戳：We need to scrap the $100 note because they’re mainly used in illegal activity
We need to scrap the $100 note because they’re mainly used in illegal activity
是时候取消百元大钞了
作者：Alexander Smith（亚历山大·史密斯）
My parents always taught me that it’s impolite to talk about money. But it’s time to break that dinner party taboo to address the big problems being wrought by big banknotes.
我的父母总教育我说谈钱不礼貌，但现在是时候打破这个宴会派对禁忌，来谈谈大面额纸币带来的大问题。
Last year the Reserve Bank of Australia reported an 11 per cent surge in demand for the $100 banknote. Yet, even with 300 million of these bills already in circulation, few Australians ever see our largest bill. Even fewer ATMs actually dispense them.
The reality is that high denomination notes play a tiny role in most legitimate economies. Indeed, the Boston Federal Reserve revealed that only 5 per cent of American consumers use $100 notes. A similar story is likely true in Australia.
A team of researchers, including me and others at Harvard University, worked with Standard Chartered’s former CEO, Peter Sands, to outline the troubling role high denomination banknotes play in facilitating illegal money flows. Anonymity of payments and the ubiquity of acceptance make large notes particularly attractive for those engaged in illegal activity. Big bills are now central to the drug trade, tax evasion, money laundering, organised crime and terrorist financing.
Of all global currencies, the worst offenders are the €500 note and the $US100 bill. Highly portable euros and dollars circulate the globe fuelling the shadiest parts of the illicit economy. It is what led authorities in Britain to ban the sale of €500 notes, which are often referred to as “bin Ladens” because everyone knows they exist but no one knows where to find them.
Nowhere is the problem more apparent than in the international drug trade. In the drug economy, cash is king. With sales of illicit narcotics conducted almost exclusively using cash, storing and transporting ill-gotten cash can pose serious logistical challenges for smugglers. Enormous amounts of currency accumulate at collection points and across supply lines over relatively short time periods. With the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimating that sales of illicit drugs represent about 0.6 to 0.9 per cent of global GDP, there is plenty of cash that needs moving.
High denomination notes make it easier for drug traffickers to move cash across borders. Because large amounts of hard currency can be surprisingly heavy, big bills substantially ease the burden of transportation. A million dollars in $US1bills weighs about one tonne – equivalent to a small car. But using $100 bills, the largest denomination in both the US and Australia, the weight of $1 million shrinks to about10 kilograms and fits easily into an overhead bag. That load is again substantially lightened when smugglers use €500 notes. Weighing only 2.24 kilograms, a million euros squeeze comfortably inside a briefcase.
Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers agrees the analysis “is totally convincing on the linkage between high denomination notes and crime” and that stopping the issuance of high denomination notes would make smugglers’ jobs that much harder. As the European Central Bank’s president, Mario Draghi, is now signalling that the ECB is considering taking action against the €500 note, the time has arrived for Australians to consider the future of our own $100 bill.
To the extent that big bills are used in legal transactions, substitutes are readily available. While forcing drug cartels to use smaller denominations to smuggle millions in illicit proceeds would cause huge disruption, the inconvenience for consumers of having to use $50 notes or lower to do the weekly shopping is infinitesimally small.
Critics are right to highlight that scrapping high denomination notes won’t stop the international drug trade. Smugglers will adapt. But given that efforts to combat the trade of illegal narcotics have been beset by decades of ineffective and expensive policy interventions, depriving criminals of high denominations notes removes a key tool for moving bulk cash across borders.
Forcing drug traffickers to abandon their dependence on cash will see them transition towards alternative methods for transferring value. As their reliance on formal payment systems and cryptocurrencies increases, so too does the likelihood that criminals will leave more fulsome digital trails for law enforcement officials to follow.
Governments have a responsibility to discontinue troublesome currency denominations. Sufficient precedent exists to do so. In 1969, when the US federal government became concerned by the illicit use of the otherwise redundant $500 banknote, what did it do? It simply stopped producing them. As part of an effort to tackle financial crime, Canada discontinued its $1000 note in 2000 and, in 2014, Singapore ceased issuing its $10,000 banknotes.
Discontinuing high denomination notes does not entail a broader war against fiat currency. Nor does it represent a conspiracy to surreptitiously facilitate negative interest rates. Rather, in a world where legal commerce is increasingly conducted via electronic payment systems, eliminating high denomination notes is simply sensible public policy.
回复 ( 3 )
还记得14年7月出国前去招行换了两三千澳元，清一色的百元面额。来到澳洲后才发现这边日常生活上几乎看不到绿色的百元大钞，ATM机也只吐最大50面额的纸币，以至于我们后来开玩笑说，要是看到有中国学生在这边使用100澳元，肯定是新来的留学生无疑。
之前我只是从物价、通货膨胀和实用性思考这一有趣的现象，今天逛Sydney Morning Herald网站首页看到We need to scrap the $100 note这个标题时，我也以为会涉及这几个角度。点进去看才发现别有洞天，觉得很长知识，所以决定粗略翻译一下。
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
英文原文请戳：We need to scrap the $100 note because they’re mainly used in illegal activity
We need to scrap the $100 note because they’re mainly used in illegal activity
是时候取消百元大钞了
作者：Alexander Smith（亚历山大·史密斯）
My parents always taught me that it’s impolite to talk about money. But it’s time to break that dinner party taboo to address the big problems being wrought by big banknotes.
我的父母总教育我说谈钱不礼貌，但现在是时候打破这个宴会派对禁忌，来谈谈大面额纸币带来的大问题。
Last year the Reserve Bank of Australia reported an 11 per cent surge in demand for the $100 banknote. Yet, even with 300 million of these bills already in circulation, few Australians ever see our largest bill. Even fewer ATMs actually dispense them.
去年澳联储报告显示对百元大钞的需求上升了11%，然而，虽然已有价值三亿的百元大钞在市面流通，却很少有澳洲人见过这个我们国家面额最大的纸币，提供百元大钞取款的ATM机则更少。
The reality is that high denomination notes play a tiny role in most legitimate economies. Indeed, the Boston Federal Reserve revealed that only 5 per cent of American consumers use $100 notes. A similar story is likely true in Australia.
现实就是这样，大面额纸币在大多数正当合法的经济活动中发挥的作用其实很小。事实上，据波斯顿联储数据，只有5%的美国消费者使用百元纸币，澳洲的情况也差不多。
A team of researchers, including me and others at Harvard University, worked with Standard Chartered’s former CEO, Peter Sands, to outline the troubling role high denomination banknotes play in facilitating illegal money flows. Anonymity of payments and the ubiquity of acceptance make large notes particularly attractive for those engaged in illegal activity. Big bills are now central to the drug trade, tax evasion, money laundering, organised crime and terrorist financing.
哈佛大学有一研究团队（我是其中成员之一）与渣打前CEO冼博德先生（Peter Sand）一起合作，研究大面额纸币在促进非法货币流动中扮演的令人不安的作用。付款的非实名和部分货币广泛的接受度使得大面额纸币对那些从事非法活动的人员更显吸引力，大面额纸币如今已成为毒品交易、逃税、洗钱、有组织犯罪和恐怖分子融资的核心。
Of all global currencies, the worst offenders are the €500 note and the $US100 bill. Highly portable euros and dollars circulate the globe fuelling the shadiest parts of the illicit economy. It is what led authorities in Britain to ban the sale of €500 notes, which are often referred to as “bin Ladens” because everyone knows they exist but no one knows where to find them.
在全球所有货币中，卷入犯罪最多的是500面额的欧元和100面额的美元。便携的欧元和美元在全世界流通，助长了非法经济的最灰色部分。正因为此，英国当局最终停止兑卖500欧元面额纸币，这一面额的纸币常常被称为“本拉登”，因为所有人都清楚其存在但却没人知道哪里可以将其找到。
Nowhere is the problem more apparent than in the international drug trade. In the drug economy, cash is king. With sales of illicit narcotics conducted almost exclusively using cash, storing and transporting ill-gotten cash can pose serious logistical challenges for smugglers. Enormous amounts of currency accumulate at collection points and across supply lines over relatively short time periods. With the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimating that sales of illicit drugs represent about 0.6 to 0.9 per cent of global GDP, there is plenty of cash that needs moving.
这一问题在国际毒品交易中尤为明显。毒品交易现金为王，随着毒品交易几乎完全使用现金，走私者在储存和运输这些不义之财上面临严峻的后勤挑战 。在各收集点和供应环节，巨额的现金在相对较短的时间内聚集。根据联合国毒品和犯罪问题办公室的预计，非法毒品交易金额占全球GDP总额的0.6%到0.9%，相应的，这中间涉及大量的现金运输。
High denomination notes make it easier for drug traffickers to move cash across borders. Because large amounts of hard currency can be surprisingly heavy, big bills substantially ease the burden of transportation. A million dollars in $US1bills weighs about one tonne – equivalent to a small car. But using $100 bills, the largest denomination in both the US and Australia, the weight of $1 million shrinks to about10 kilograms and fits easily into an overhead bag. That load is again substantially lightened when smugglers use €500 notes. Weighing only 2.24 kilograms, a million euros squeeze comfortably inside a briefcase.
大面额纸币使得毒品交易者跨国搬运现金更为容易。大量现金会重到令人惊讶，而大面额纸币可以极大地减轻运输负担。拿100万美元来说，若全部都是1美元纸币，重量可达一吨，差不多一辆小汽车的重量。但若全部是100美元纸币（100元在美国和澳洲都是最大面额），重量则缩减至10公斤，装进架空袋轻而易举。若全部是500欧元纸币，那重量更是可以大幅降低至2.24公斤，完全可以塞进公文包。
Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers agrees the analysis “is totally convincing on the linkage between high denomination notes and crime” and that stopping the issuance of high denomination notes would make smugglers’ jobs that much harder. As the European Central Bank’s president, Mario Draghi, is now signalling that the ECB is considering taking action against the €500 note, the time has arrived for Australians to consider the future of our own $100 bill.
美国前财政部长劳伦斯·萨默斯同意上述分析，认为这个关于大面额纸币和犯罪的关系的分析非常具有说服力，而停止大面额纸币的发行可以使毒品走私工作更加艰难。随着欧洲央行总裁马里奥·德拉吉已表示欧洲央行正在考虑取消500面额纸币，澳洲人是时候考虑我们100元纸币的未来了。
To the extent that big bills are used in legal transactions, substitutes are readily available. While forcing drug cartels to use smaller denominations to smuggle millions in illicit proceeds would cause huge disruption, the inconvenience for consumers of having to use $50 notes or lower to do the weekly shopping is infinitesimally small.
诚然，合法交易中也会使用大面额纸币，但这个替代物很容易找到。取消大面额纸币，使贩毒集团不得不使用更小面额的纸币走私数百万的非法所得，从而给他们带来巨大冲击，而这一举措给消费者带来的不便（每周购物时只能使用50元或面额更低的纸币），相较而言可谓微乎其微。
Critics are right to highlight that scrapping high denomination notes won’t stop the international drug trade. Smugglers will adapt. But given that efforts to combat the trade of illegal narcotics have been beset by decades of ineffective and expensive policy interventions, depriving criminals of high denominations notes removes a key tool for moving bulk cash across borders.
反对者会说取消大面额纸币并不能终结国际毒品贸易，不无道理，因为走私者会相应调整策略。但想想过去数十年的缉毒政策干预效果之差、成本之高，努力没有取得太多回报，考虑取消大面额纸币未尝不可，取消了它，就相当于取消了贩毒分子跨国搬运大宗现金的一大关键工具。
Forcing drug traffickers to abandon their dependence on cash will see them transition towards alternative methods for transferring value. As their reliance on formal payment systems and cryptocurrencies increases, so too does the likelihood that criminals will leave more fulsome digital trails for law enforcement officials to follow.
强制贩毒分子不再依赖于现金，会让他们转向其它转移财产的方法。随着他们更多依赖于正规支付体系和加密货币，他们留下更多数字痕迹供执法人员有迹可循的可能性也会增强。
Governments have a responsibility to discontinue troublesome currency denominations. Sufficient precedent exists to do so. In 1969, when the US federal government became concerned by the illicit use of the otherwise redundant $500 banknote, what did it do? It simply stopped producing them. As part of an effort to tackle financial crime, Canada discontinued its $1000 note in 2000 and, in 2014, Singapore ceased issuing its $10,000 banknotes.
政府有责任停止发行带来麻烦的货币面额，这方面有很多先例。1969年当美国联邦政府开始担心其时已显得多余的500元面额纸币用于非法目的时，政府做了什么？直接停止发行！作为遏制金融犯罪措施的一部分，加拿大于2000年取消了1000加元的发行，新加坡则于2014年停止发行10000新元。
Discontinuing high denomination notes does not entail a broader war against fiat currency. Nor does it represent a conspiracy to surreptitiously facilitate negative interest rates. Rather, in a world where legal commerce is increasingly conducted via electronic payment systems, eliminating high denomination notes is simply sensible public policy.
停止发行大面额纸币并不意味着发动对法定货币更广泛的战争，也不代表在阴谋推动负利率。相反，在合法贸易正日益通过电子支付系统进行的今天，消除大面额纸币只不过是一个明智的公共政策而已。
Alexander Smith is a graduate student at Harvard University.
亚历山大·史密斯系哈佛大学研究生。
老百姓正常的现金消费也就几百几千的样子 带这些纸币出门并不会造成多大影响 所以没必要制造大额纸币 并且大额纸币带来的问题还有一个就是找零困难 你要是买个早餐递上去个五百一千的纸币 估计摊主会疯
而合法的大额货币转移和交易一般都通过银行 不需要纸币 一般大额的纸币交易基本都是犯罪 比如毒品 赌博 行贿等等 这些交易国家无法监管 如果出现大额纸币更是为这些行为提供了便利
关于这个问题，主要有以下几点原因：
第一， 不发行大额纸币，可以尽量遏制洗钱、贩毒、走私等违法行为。
第二， 可以降低制造假币的收益。
第三， 大额纸币实际上是流通不便的。
第四， 有可能有通胀预期。
关于更多详细的原因解读，推荐题主看一下这篇天风侃财微信公众号里的文章：