Seigniorage
Seigniorage is the real resources a sovereign (or a private issuer of money-like claims) obtains by issuing money whose production cost is below face value.
Definition
Classic coinage: melt cost vs face. Fiat: the real balances people are willing to hold, eroded by inflation (the inflation tax) or expanded by growth in real money demand. Dollar seigniorage includes foreign holdings of cash and reserves.
Why it matters
It is why inflation is a tax without a vote, and why a reserve-currency issuer can finance cheaply. Stablecoin issuers also earn a private cousin of seigniorage on reserves.
Case
High-inflation fiscals (Weimar, 1980s LatAm) live on seigniorage when they cannot tax or borrow. The US earns quiet seigniorage on global cash demand.
How to read it
Split growth in real balances (benign) from inflation tax (extractive). The same ‘money issuance’ label hides both.