Does It Make Sense to Keep Minting the Penny?
Explore the debate over the U.S. penny—its cost, value, and future—in this PBS NewsHour Classroom economics lesson for middle and high school students.
Note: If you are short on time, watch the video and complete this See, Think, Wonder activity: What did you notice? What did the story make you think about? What would you want to learn more about?
The penny could soon be a thing of the past. President Donald Trump is pushing to end production of the one-cent coin, citing its rising costs. Each penny costs nearly four cents to make and scrapping it could save taxpayers about $56 million a year. Deema Zein discussed more with John Feigenbaum of Whitman Publishing, a leading producer of numismatic reference books.
View the transcript of the story.
Discussion Questions
- Who is pushing to end the production of one cent pennies?
- What is causing the pushback against the production of one cent pennies?
- Where does money come from to fund the minting of pennies?
- When did the production cost of pennies become more expensive than its value?
- How does John Feigenbaum argue for an alternative to the penny where production cost isn't greater than value?
Focus Questions
- Do you think negative consequences of minting the penny outweigh the economic gains? Explain.
- Why do you think low-income individuals and families are more affected if the penny is no longer minted?
- Media literacy: Who else would you want to hear from to form a more complete opinion? (think: economists, shoppers, banks, small business owners, etc.)
Extension Activities
- Look beyond your own national boundaries and consider how other countries handled similar situations involving discontinuance of similar monetary value. What were the implications? Can we use that to predict the outcome of discontinuing the penny?
- Keep track of your interactions with pennies. How do you handle pennies when in contact with them?
- Think of solutions that would mitigate/minimize the negative consequences of discontinuing pennies.
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Republished with permission from PBS News Hour Classroom.
PBS News Hour Classroom helps teachers and students identify the who, what, where and why-it-matters of the major national and international news stories. The site combines the best of News Hour's reliable, trustworthy news program with lesson plans developed specifically for... See More
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