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Withering Cash: Is Sweden ahead of the curve or just special?

Author

Listed:
  • Armelius, Hanna

    (Payments Department)

  • Claussen, Carl Andreas

    (Payments Department)

  • Reslow, André

    (Payments Department, Sveriges Riksbank; Uppsala University and Uppsala Centre for Fiscal Studies (UCFS))

Abstract

There is much in our increasingly digitized economies to suggest that the use of cash should fall. However, in almost all countries, it is constant or rising with a few notable excep- tions. Sweden, in particular, displays a divergent development. In this paper, we explore the drivers behind this development. We use a data set consisting of 129 developed and de- veloping countries and an extensive set of possible explanatory variables to estimate panel regressions for cash demand. In line with earlier studies, we find that economic develop- ment, demography, and the interest rate are important factors. A new finding is that our estimations point to a negative relationship between cash and corruption, and between cash and trust in government and financial institutions. However, this is not enough to fully explain the divergent development in Sweden. We therefore also discuss some recent events and policy measures in Sweden that seem to have accelerated the decline in cash during the last decade.

Suggested Citation

  • Armelius, Hanna & Claussen, Carl Andreas & Reslow, André, 2020. "Withering Cash: Is Sweden ahead of the curve or just special?," Working Paper Series 393, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:rbnkwp:0393
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Borgonovo, Emanuele & Caselli, Stefano & Cillo, Alessandra & Masciandaro, Donato & Rabitti, Giovanni, 2021. "Money, privacy, anonymity: What do experiments tell us?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    2. Solomon H. Tarlin, 2021. "The Future of Cash," Community Affairs Discussion Paper 21-03, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cash Demand; Currency in Circulation; Money;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E41 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Demand for Money
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E51 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Money Supply; Credit; Money Multipliers

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