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Economics of Payment Cards: A Status Report

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Author Info
Wilko Bolt
Sujit Chakravorti
Abstract

In this article, we survey the recent theoretical literature on payment cards and study their implications for public policy. Payment card networks have faced regulatory scrutiny in several countries regarding the setting of various fees including interchange fees – fees paid by the merchant's financial institution to the cardholder's financial institution. In addition, other common payment practices such as no-surcharge rules have also been challenged in several jurisdictions. Unlike other types of markets, card payment services are network goods where two distinct end-users (i.e. consumers and merchants) must participate for the good to be consumed.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department in its series DNB Working Papers with number 193.

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Date of creation: Dec 2008
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Handle: RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:193

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Related research
Keywords: retail financial services; payment card networks; pricing; competition;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Mortgages
D53 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Financial Markets

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Daniel D. Garcia-Swartz & Robert W. Hahn & Anne Layne-Farrar, 2006. "The Move Toward a Cashless Society: A Closer Look at Payment Instrument Economics," Review of Network Economics, Concept Economics, vol. 5(2), pages 175-198, June. [Downloadable!]
  2. Jean-Charles Rochet Author-Email: rochet@cict.fr Author-Workplace-Name: IDEI, University of Toulouse & Jean Tirole Author-Email: tirole@cict.fr Author-Workplace-Name: IDEI, University of Toulouse, 2006. "Two-Sided Markets: A Progress Report," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 645-667, Autumn.
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  3. repec:bep:eaptop:v:3:y:2003:i:1:p:1069-1069 is not listed on IDEAS
  4. Wilko Bolt & David Humphrey, 2007. "Payment Network Scale Economies, SEPA, and Cash Replacement," Review of Network Economics, Concept Economics, vol. 6(4), pages 453-473, December. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Stuart E. Weiner & Julian Wright, 2005. "Interchange fees in various countries: developments and determinants," Payments System Research Working Paper PSR WP 05-01, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Mark Armstrong Author-Email: mark.armstrong@ucl.ac.uk, 2006. "Competition in Two-Sided Markets," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 668-691, Autumn.
    Other versions:
  7. Bolt, Wilko & Tieman, Alexander F., 2008. "Heavily skewed pricing in two-sided markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1250-1255, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Julian Wright, 2004. "The Determinants of Optimal Interchange Fees in Payment Systems," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(1), pages 1-26, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Sujit Chakravorti & Roberto Roson, 2006. "Platform Competition in Two-Sided Markets: The Case of Payment Networks," Review of Network Economics, Concept Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 118-143, March. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Schmalensee, Richard, 2002. "Payment Systems and Interchange Fees," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(2), pages 103-22, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Jean-Charles Rochet, 2003. "The Theory of Interchange Fees: A Synthesis of Recent Contributions," Review of Network Economics, Concept Economics, vol. 2(2), pages 97-124, June. [Downloadable!]
  12. Humphrey, David & Willesson, Magnus & Bergendahl, Goran & Lindblom, Ted, 2006. "Benefits from a changing payment technology in European banking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1631-1652, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. James McAndrews & Zhu Wang, 2006. "Microfoundations of two-sided markets: the payment card example," Payments System Research Working Paper PSR WP 06-01, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Sujit Chakravorti & Victor Lubasi, 2006. "Payment instrument choice: the case of prepaid cards," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue Q II, pages 29-43. [Downloadable!]
  15. Terri Bradford, 2008. "Developments in interchange fees in the United States and abroad," Payments System Research Briefing, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Apr. [Downloadable!]
  16. Beijnen, Christine & Bolt, Wilko, 2009. "Size matters: Economies of scale in European payments processing," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 203-210, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Wilko Bolt & David Humphrey & Roland Uittenbogaard, 2008. "Transaction Pricing and the Adoption of Electronic Payments: A Cross-Country Comparison," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 4(1), pages 89-123, March. [Downloadable!]
  18. Marius Schwartz & Daniel R. Vincent, 2006. "The No Surcharge Rule and Card User Rebates: Vertical Control by a Payment Network," Review of Network Economics, Concept Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 72-102, March. [Downloadable!]
  19. Chakravorti, Sujit & To, Ted, 2007. "A theory of credit cards," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 583-595, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Nicholas Economides, 2008. "Competition Policy Issues in the Consumer Payments Industry," Working Papers 08-29, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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