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Optimal pricing of payment services when cash is an alternative

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Cyril Monnet
William Roberds

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Abstract

Payments are increasingly being made with payment cards rather than currency-this despite the fact that the operational cost of clearing a card payment usually exceeds the cost of transferring cash. In this paper, the authors examine this puzzle through the lens of monetary theory. They consider the design of an optimal card-based payment system when cash is available as an alternative means of payment, and derive conditions under which cards will be preferred to cash. The authors find that a feature akin to the controversial "no-surcharge rule" may be necessary to ensure the viability of the card payment system. This rule, which is part of the contract between a card provider and a merchant, states that the merchant cannot charge a customer who pays by card more than a customer who pays by cash. ; Also issued as Payment Cards Center Discussion Paper No. 07-15

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in its series Working Papers with number 07-26.

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Date of creation: 2007
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpwp:07-26

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Keywords: Payment systems;

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  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. Aleksander Berentsen & Gabriele Camera & Christopher Waller, . "Money, Credit and Banking," IEW - Working Papers iewwp219, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Lacker, Jeffrey M. & Schreft, Stacey L., 1996. "Money and credit as means of payment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 3-23, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Geoffrey R. Gerdes & Jack K. Walton II & May X. Liu & Darrel W. Parke, 2005. "Trends in the use of payment instruments in the United States," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Spr, pages 180-201. [Downloadable!]
  5. Antoine Martin & Michael Orlando & David Skeie, 2006. "Payment networks in a search model of money," Staff Reports 263, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Sujit Chakravorti, 2003. "Theory of Credit Card Networks: A Survey of the Literature," Review of Network Economics, Concept Economics, vol. 2(2), pages 50-68, June. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Dean Corbae & Joseph Ritter, 2004. "Decentralized credit and monetary exchange without public record keeping," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 933-951, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Jean-Charles Rochet & Jean Tirole, 2006. "Externalities and Regulation in Card Payment Systems," Review of Network Economics, Concept Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 1-14, March. [Downloadable!]
  9. David Humphrey & Magnus Willesson & Ted Lindblomand & Goran Bergendahl, 2003. "What does it Cost to Make a Payment?," Review of Network Economics, Concept Economics, vol. 2(2), pages 159-174, June. [Downloadable!]
  10. Evans, David & Schmalensee, Richard, 2005. "The Economics of Interchange Fees and Their Regulation: An Overview," Working papers 18181, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Thorsten Koeppl & Cyril Monnet & Ted Temzelides, 2007. "A dynamic model of the payment system," Working Papers 07-22, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
  12. Kocherlakota, Narayana R., 1998. "Money Is Memory," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 232-251, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Aiyagari, S. Rao & Williamson, Stephen D., 2000. "Money and Dynamic Credit Arrangements with Private Information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 248-279, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Robert M. Hunt, 2003. "An introduction to the economics of payment card networks," Working Papers 03-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Charles M. Kahn & William Roberds, 2005. "Credit and identity theft," Working Paper 2005-19, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. [Downloadable!]
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  16. Philip Lowe, 2005. "Payments system reform : the Australian experience," Proceedings – Payments System Research Conferences, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue May, pages 269- 278. [Downloadable!]
  17. Elizabeth Klee, 2006. "Families' use of payment instruments during a decade of change in the U.S. payment system," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2006-01, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  18. Thorsten Koeppl & Cyril Monnet & Ted Temzelides, 2006. "A Dynamic Model of Settlement," Working Papers 1053, Queen's University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  19. Ricardo Lagos & Randall Wright, 2005. "A Unified Framework for Monetary Theory and Policy Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(3), pages 463-484, June.
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  20. Guillaume Rocheteau & Randall Wright, 2003. "Money in Search Equilibrium, in Competitive Equilibrium, and in Competitive Search Equilibrium," PIER Working Paper Archive 03-031, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
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  21. 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)
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