Value of Monetary Income in a Transition Economy

The authors focus on income from the monopoly rights to issue money accruing to central banks in a transitional environment. The authors introduce a general method to compute the value of this ability and provide a tentative valuation in the Czech case. The range of the estimates demonstrates that a unilateral adoption of the euro would entail a significant loss in terms of monetary income. On the other hand, EMU membership is found to be beneficial.