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Pennies and the Economy

2002

Hi,

I am trying to organize all of my pennies into yearly categories. I was wondering if the was a direct correlation with pennies produced and the health of the government. Such that if I don't have so many of one year, does this note a recession?

Respond asap please.

Chris Shoust
- Windsor

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An interesting thesis but what evidence do you have that your collection is representative of the actual volume of the mint runs? And why would you think that in a bad year the government cannot even afford to press pennies?

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2002

I have a listing given from the Canadian mint itself on the amount of pennies printed. I also have facts about when the mint went on strike and the circulation went down rapidly for a year. I just wanted to know if you think pennies relate to the economy in terms of circulation. good year=lots of pennies. bad year=fewer pennies.

Chris Shoust
- Windsor, Ontario
2002

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No, I don't think so. Do you, and why?

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2002

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2002

Interesting thought, but I don't think you will be able to make a connection like that. For one thing, you don't know how many older pennies the Canadian government took OUT of circulation each year. Maybe one year there was a big push to get rid of old pennies and there were actually more old pennies taken out of circulation than new pennies made.

Also, inflation of the money supply does not necessarily mean the economy is doing especially good or bad. Very often high inflation accompanies bad economic times, but you could also have deflation. (Inflation = more money in circulation = prices go up and deflation = less money in circulation = prices go down)

This gets into complicated economic theories, but I think in general I don't think you can say the number of pennies of a year (even if you collect a lot) will predict how good or bad the economy or the goverment was doing.

Tim Neveau
Rochester Hills, Michigan