大额钞票真的需要取消吗 The hidden costs of a cash free society

To proponents of a cash-free society, the survival of the $100 bill is at best an anachronism, at worst a gift to organised crime. Peter Sands, the former chief executive of UK-based Standard Chartered bank, last week called for the note to be consigned to history, alongside other high-value banknotes beloved of drug barons and kleptocrats. They play little part in the legitimate economy, he argues, but a crucial role in the underground economy.

对于支持“无现金社会”的人士来说，100美元钞票说好听了是过时之物，说难听了就是给有组织犯罪的献礼。总部位于英国的渣打银行(Standard Chartered)前首席执行官冼博德(Peter Sands)上周呼吁，让100美元钞票成为历史，还有其他为毒枭和窃国者所钟爱的大额钞票。他认为，这类钞票在合法经济中没什么用，在地下经济中却发挥着重要作用。

This may well be the case with extreme examples such as the 500 note, under investigation by the EU Commission for links to terrorism. Many are also suspicious of the SFr1,000 notes stashed in Swiss safe deposit boxes. However, Mr Sands goes further, calling for concerted action by major issuers to phase out any note worth more than about $50.

像500欧元钞票这样的极端例子或许确实如此。欧盟委员会(EU Commission)正在调查500欧元钞票与恐怖主义的联系。很多人还对存放在瑞士银行保险箱里的1000瑞士法郎钞票表示怀疑。冼博德却更进一步，呼吁主要货币发行机构携起手来，逐步淘汰面值超过50美元的钞票。

In doing so, he overstates the likely effect on criminal activity. He also underplays the many legitimate reasons for using higher value notes in emerging markets and in some of the world’s most developed societies.

他高估了取消大额纸币对犯罪活动可能造成的影响，却低估了新兴市场以及一些全球最发达国家使用大额钞票的很多合法理由。

It is true that it becomes harder to stuff an envelope with cash, or to smuggle a briefcase through customs, if forced to make the bundles of banknotes more bulky. Using bitcoin, diamonds or other means of laundering money might be more costly. But these are not insuperable obstacles. As for tax evasion, it may be easier to pay a builder cash in hand using 50 notes but 20 notes would surely serve the purpose. Many businesses that avoid value added tax by under-reporting income are dealing with smaller retail transactions.

的确，如果强制让成捆的钞票变得更笨重，把现金装入信封，或者拿着装现金的手提箱通过海关，会变得更困难。使用比特币、珠宝或者其他洗钱方式可能成本较高。但这些并非无法逾越的障碍。至于逃税，用50英镑钞票支付给建筑工人或许更方便，但用20英镑的钞票肯定也能达到目的。很多通过低报收入免交增值税的企业在从事较小额的零售交易。

If criminals find high-value notes useful, so do plenty of other people. In Japan, still very much a cash-based society, the Y10,000 note represents more than 90 per cent of cash outstanding. Sweden, where people even pay children’s pocket money in electronic form, is at the other extreme. But it is no coincidence that people are swiftest to adopt digital payment methods in countries where they have high levels of trust in their institutions.

如果犯罪分子认为大额钞票有用，那么很多其他人也会这么认为。在日本（很大程度上仍是一个以现金为基础的社会），1万日元钞票占已发行钞票的90%以上。瑞典是另一个极端，在那里，人们甚至用电子货币给孩子零花钱。但是，在金融机构受到高度信任的国家，人们最易接受电子支付方式，这并非巧合。

Hard currency remains popular as a safe store of value in countries with unstable exchange rates, repressive governments, capital controls or a history of banking collapses. These hoarders prefer big banknotes. In much of Africa and Asia, a $100 note trades at a premium to smaller denominations. The Bank of England says overseas currency wholesalers are the main buyers of 50 notes, which account for a fifth of cash in circulation.

在汇率不稳定、政府专制、实行资本管制或经历过银行业崩盘的国家，硬通货作为一种安全的价值储存手段仍然颇受欢迎。这些现金囤积者喜欢大额钞票。在非洲和亚洲很多国家，100美元钞票的交易价格高于较低面额钞票。英国央行(Bank of England)表示，海外货币批发商是50英镑钞票的主要买方，这种钞票占流通现金的五分之一。

Of course, this does not mean that central banks should print high-value notes for the benefit of savers in emerging markets. But it should serve as a reminder that the apparent convenience of a cash-free world comes at a cost to personal freedom. People like cash because it is simple, secure and anonymous. Not all governments are benevolent; and electronic payments can be tracked and hacked.

当然，这并不是说，央行应该为了新兴市场的储户印发高面额钞票。但这应提醒人们，无现金社会表面上的便利是以牺牲个人自由为代价的。人们喜欢现金的原因是它简单、安全、匿名。并非所有政府都是善意的；电子支付可能会被跟踪或被黑客攻击。

These arguments matter because the whole concept of cash is increasingly under attack by those who deem it an inconvenient obstacle to public policy — most recently, to central banks’ adoption of negative interest rates.

这些观点很重要，因为现金的整个概念正越来越多地受到一些人的抨击，这些人认为现金是公共政策执行的绊脚石，比如最近就给一些央行的负利率政策造成了障碍。

If policymakers try to stimulate the economy by charging interest on money left idle in the bank, the logic goes, people will switch to cash and keep it under the bed.

一些人认为，如果政策制定者试图通过对闲置在银行的现金收取费用来刺激经济，人们将转向持有现金并把它们藏在床底下。

There is little sign of this happening yet and, in any case, it is possible to devise ways of charging people to hold cash.

目前还没有发生这种情况的迹象，无论如何，设计出让人们为持有现金而付费的方法，总是有可能的。

There may well be grounds to ban the “Bin Laden”, as the 500 note has become known. But the worst way to win people around to the merits of digital currencies would be coercion.

我们或许有理由废除被称为“本拉登”(Bin Laden)的500欧元钞票。但要让人们理解数字货币的优点，强迫是下下策。