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Measuring unfamiliar economic concepts: the case of prepaid card adoption

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  • Marcin Hitczenko
  • Mingzhu Tai

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that the use of prepaid cards is growing in the United States. The study of how prepaid cards fit into the existing payments market requires accurate data about the adoption of prepaid cards among consumers. This paper describes several experiments conducted by the Consumer Payments Research Center that compare the efficacy of various question forms regarding reported adoption rates. A primary focus is on the effect of \"disaggregation\" or asking about adoption of a number of prepaid card categories sequentially rather than asking about adoption of prepaid cards as a whole. We find strong evidence that increases in the number of categories yield higher adoption rates. Findings about the robustness of responses with changes in a few aspects of the question are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcin Hitczenko & Mingzhu Tai, 2014. "Measuring unfamiliar economic concepts: the case of prepaid card adoption," Working Papers 14-9, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedbwp:14-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joachim Winter, 2004. "Response bias in survey-based measures of household consumption," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 3(9), pages 1-12.
    2. Sergei Koulayev & Marc Rysman & Scott Schuh & Joanna Stavins, 2016. "Explaining adoption and use of payment instruments by US consumers," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 47(2), pages 293-325, May.
    3. Kevin Foster & Erik Meijer & Scott Schuh & Mike Zabek, 2011. "The 2009 survey of consumer payment choice," Public Policy Discussion Paper 11-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    4. Kevin Foster & Scott Schuh & Hanbing Zhang, 2013. "The 2010 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice," Research Data Report 13-2, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    5. Schuh, Scott & Stavins, Joanna, 2010. "Why are (some) consumers (finally) writing fewer checks? The role of payment characteristics," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1745-1758, August.
    6. Emily Cuddy & Fumiko Hayashi, 2014. "General purpose reloadable prepaid cards : penetration, use, fees and fraud risks," Research Working Paper RWP 14-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    7. Jagger, Pamela & Luckert, Marty K. & Banana, Abwoli & Bahati, Joseph, 2012. "Asking Questions to Understand Rural Livelihoods: Comparing Disaggregated vs. Aggregated Approaches to Household Livelihood Questionnaires," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1810-1823.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Claire Greene & Oz Shy, 2015. "How are U.S. consumers using general purpose reloadable prepaid cards?: are they being used as substitutes for checking accounts?," Research Data Report 15-3, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    2. Claire Greene & Shaun O'Brien & Scott Schuh, 2017. "U. S. consumer cash use, 2012 and 2015: an introduction to the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice," Research Data Report 17-6, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    3. Marco Angrisani & Kevin Foster & Marcin Hitczenko, 2014. "The 2011 and 2012 Surveys of Consumer Payment Choice: technical appendix," Research Data Report 14-2, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    4. Claire Greene & Scott Schuh & Joanna Stavins, 2016. "The 2014 survey of consumer payment choice: summary results," Research Data Report 16-3, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    survey design; disaggregation; Survey of Consumer Payment Choice;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B4 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology

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