Brian Gongol
Iowa's water-quality rules to get tighter
Should the penny get a stay of execution?
The US Mint wants to stop making pennies because they're worth more for their component metals than as currency. Some even advocate abolishing the penny simply because they see it as a waste of time. Penny-defenders, though, appeal to both sentiment and charity as reasons to keep the coin around. And, of course, there's the matter of the beloved President Lincoln appearing on the coin. Perhaps, though, we're overlooking a simple answer that would accommodate the economic reality of the very un-economical penny and yet still keep the sense of nostalgia intact: Do away with the one-cent penny, and replace it with a two-cent coin -- a double-penny, if you will -- composed of something substantially less valuable than our current coinage. Lincoln's head could grace the new coin, the matter of rounding error would be greatly reduced (as opposed to abolishing the penny altogether), the waste incurred by one-cent-penny exchange would be cut (hypothetically, in half), and the nostalgic would still have their sub-nickel coin. Besides, it would free the penny argument from its current entanglement with the zinc and copper mining companies.
August 2008 update to the EconDirectory
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