Venezuela, Where Robbing A Bank Doesn't Make Money But Making Change At One Does

Public policy comes in two flavours here. The first being that obviously the Venezuelan government should stop making at least the bolivar coins, if they haven’t already. Whether they have or not would be a very interesting test of the basic competence of that government. Turning $7,000 worth of metal into $300 worth of coins just doesn’t look like something sensible people would do. So, if they are doing it then we’ve a guide to their good sense: if they’ve already stopped then a guide to the fact that at least someone inside that structure has some good sense. The second is that when this sort of situation exists we can be very certain that there’s been some appalling public policy in the recent past. Because recall what actually happens here. You can walk into a bank in Venezuela with $300 worth of banknotes and someone will give you $7,000 worth of metal. Assuming they will make change for you, of course. And who would rob banks when this is true, when such profits are available entirely legally? More…