Ahmad Jafari-Samimi has written:

'Relationship between inflation and seigniorage in developing countries'

The quarter represents twenty-five cents, it has nothing to do with the cost to make the coin. The difference has the fancy name seigniorage. The government quite literally "makes money when it makes money", because they keep the difference as good old-fashioned profit. But before anyone gets upset, the amount of seigniorage on coins is far less than most parts of the federal budget. Think of it as a painless tax that makes a tiny little dent in the deficit.

The U.S. Mint makes money because of seigniorage. Which is the profit that is the difference between the value of the metals along with other costs of production and the monetary value of the coins. Example: The U.S. Mint can produce a quarter for less than 25 cents and then "sell" the quarter at its face value.

Rafael Repullo has written:

'Some remarks on Leland's model of insider trading'

'Implementation by direct mechanisms under incomplete information'

'Financing budget deficits by seigniorage andimplicit taxation' -- subject(s): Budget deficits, Budgetdeficits, Economic policy, Mathematical models

'Implementation in dominant strategies under complete and incomplete information'

The "gold dollar" $1 coin (which is brass and has no gold) was designed with the same electronic signature as the older Susan B. Anthony cupronickel (clad) coins. All machines (drinks, snacks, toll booths) that accepted either coin should still work for any of them. The US Mint still has many of the Susan B. Anthony coins and Sacajawea coins in storage, but there is no demand for them. The advantage of the Presidential $1 series is that many will be taken out by collectors and provide surplus earnings to the Mint in excess of even the substantial seigniorage (net gain) for the coins.

The last current issue of the Presidential series is now slated to honor Ronald Reagan in November 2015.