Aiming to cut the levels of yuan in circulation, the People's Bank of China is increasing the banking reserve ratio by half a percentage point to 13.5%.

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Critics might fret that the recent slowdown in the growth in Japan's monetary base (banks' reserves at the central bank plus notes and coins in circulation) suggests that the Bank of Japan has tightened policy.

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Our earlier use of this policy approach had little effect on the amount of currency in circulation or on other broad measures of the money supply, such as bank deposits.

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That is what it is now doing: Japan's monetary base (currency in circulation and banks' reserves at the Bank of Japan) grew by 23% in the year to January.

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Under a currency board arrangement, the central bank guarantees the redemption of all notes in circulation at a set exchange rate to the dollar or another foreign currency or basket of currencies.

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His policy of expanding "power money"--cash in circulation plus bank reserves--will feed inflation, which is currently at 5.2%.

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To compensate, the bank sells its own bills, thus taking yuan out of circulation.

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And if central bankers sought to control money, however defined, by targeting the monetary base cash in circulation and commercial-bank reserves held with the central bank they lost control of the short-term interest rate, which might move erratically and damage the economy.

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The First National Bank of Fairfield and Iowa State Bank keep reserves of the Maharishi's dollars on hand to cover raams in circulation.

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The Bank of England issues nearly a billion banknotes each year, and withdraws almost as many from circulation.

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