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On the essentiality of E-money

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  • Chiu, Jonathan
  • Wong, Tsz-Nga

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed the advances of e-money systems such as Bitcoin, PayPal and various forms of stored-value cards. This paper adopts a mechanism design approach to identify some essential features of different payment systems that implement the optimal resource allocation. We find that, compared to cash, e-money technologies allowing limited participation, limited transferability and non-zero-sum transfers can help mitigate fundamental frictions and enhance social welfare, if they satisfy conditions in terms of parameters such as trade frequency and bargaining powers. An optimally designed e-money system exhibits realistic arrangements including non-linear pricing, cross-subsidization and positive interchange fees even when the technologies incur no costs. Regulations such as a cap on interchange fees (à la the Dodd-Frank Act) can distort the optimal mechanism and reduce welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiu, Jonathan & Wong, Tsz-Nga, 2016. "On the essentiality of E-money," Working Paper Series 19474, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:vuw:vuwecf:19474
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    Cited by:

    1. Charles M. Kahn & Francisco Rivadeneyra & Tsz-Nga Wong, 2018. "Should the Central Bank Issue E-money?," Staff Working Papers 18-58, Bank of Canada.
    2. Cong, Lin William & Li, Ye & Wang, Neng, 2022. "Token-based platform finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(3), pages 972-991.
    3. Walter Engert & Ben Fung, 2020. "A Uniform Currency in a Cashless Economy," Staff Analytical Notes 2020-7, Bank of Canada.
    4. Ben Fung & Hanna Halaburda, 2016. "Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Framework for Assessing Why and How," Discussion Papers 16-22, Bank of Canada.
    5. Jonathan Chiu & Tsz-Nga Wong, 2014. "E-Money: Efficiency, Stability and Optimal Policy," Staff Working Papers 14-16, Bank of Canada.
    6. Davoodalhosseini, Seyed Mohammadreza, 2022. "Central bank digital currency and monetary policy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    7. Carli, Francesco & Uras, Burak, 2022. "Money, E-money, and Consumer Welfare," Other publications TiSEM d6c0389e-1036-4748-9040-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Janet Hua & Yu Zhu, 2021. "Monetary Policy Pass-Through with Central Bank Digital Currency," Staff Working Papers 21-10, Bank of Canada.
    9. Luca Marchiori, 2018. "Monetary theory reversed: Virtual currency issuance and miners’ remuneration," BCL working papers 115, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    10. Chiu, Jonathan & Wong, Tsz-Nga, 2022. "Payments on digital platforms: Resiliency, interoperability and welfare," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    11. Wong, Tsz-Nga, 2016. "Monetary exchange and the irreducible cost of inflation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 218-229.
    12. Beata Szetela & Grzegorz Mentel & Stanislaw Gedek, 2016. "Dependency analysis between Bitcoin and selected global currencies," Dynamic Econometric Models, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 16, pages 133-144.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Money; Electronic money; Mechanism design; Search and matching; Efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
    • E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • L5 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

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