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Payments and privacy in the digital economy

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  • Ahnert, Toni
  • Hoffmann, Peter
  • Monnet, Cyril

Abstract

We propose a model of lending, payments choice, and privacy in the digital economy. While digital payments enable merchants to sell goods online, they reveal information to their lender. Cash guarantees anonymity, but limits distribution to less efficient offline venues. In equilibrium, merchants trade off the efficiency gains from online distribution (with digital payments) and the informational rents from staying anonymous (with cash). While new technologies can reduce the privacy concerns associated with digital payments, they also redistribute surplus from the lender to merchants. Hence, privacy enhancements do not always improve welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahnert, Toni & Hoffmann, Peter & Monnet, Cyril, 2025. "Payments and privacy in the digital economy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:169:y:2025:i:c:s0304405x25000583
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2025.104050
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    Cited by:

    1. Jonathan Chiu & Cyril Monnet, 2024. "Public and Private Money Creation for Distributed Ledgers: Stablecoins, Tokenized Deposits, or Central Bank Digital Currencies?," Staff Working Papers 24-35, Bank of Canada.
    2. Jon Frost & Jean-Charles Rochet & Huyn Song Shin & Marianne Verdier, 2025. "Competing digital monies," Working Papers hal-05081338, HAL.
    3. Hemingway, Benjamin, 2025. "The role of central bank digital currency in an increasingly digital economy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    4. Agur, Itai & Ari, Anil & Dell’Ariccia, Giovanni, 2025. "Bank competition and household privacy in a digital payment monopoly," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    5. Charles M. Kahn & Maarten R.C. van Oordt, 2022. "The Demand for Programmable Payments," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-076/IV, Tinbergen Institute.
    6. Michael Barczay & Mr. Shafik Hebous & Fayçal Sawadogo & Jean-François Wen, 2025. "Taxing Mobile Money: Theory and Evidence," IMF Working Papers 2025/255, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Keister, Todd & Monnet, Cyril, 2022. "Central bank digital currency: Stability and information," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    8. Alexis Derviz, 2023. "Foreign Exchange Implications of CBDCs and Their Integration via Bridge Coins," Working Papers 2023/7, Czech National Bank, Research and Statistics Department.
    9. Wang, Chien-Chiang & Li, Yiting, 2023. "Anonymous credit," MPRA Paper 118480, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Te Bao & John Duffy & Nobuyuki Hanaki, 2024. "Paying to Avoid the Spotlight," ISER Discussion Paper 1238r, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka, revised Sep 2024.
    11. Magin, Jana Anjali & Neyer, Ulrike & Stempel, Daniel, 2023. "The macroeconomic effects of different CBDC regimes in an economy with a heterogeneous household sector," DICE Discussion Papers 396, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    12. Magin, Jana & Neyer, Ulrike & Stempel, Daniel, 2023. "The Macroeconomic Effects of Different CBDC Regimes in an Economy with a Heterogeneous Household Sector," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277656, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Mishra, Bineet & Prasad, Eswar, 2024. "A simple model of a central bank digital currency," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Systems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

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