IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/moneco/v84y2016icp94-115.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Payment choice and currency use: Insights from two billion retail transactions

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Zhu
  • Wolman, Alexander L.

Abstract

Using three years of transactions data from a discount retailer with thousands of stores, we study payment variation along three dimensions: transaction size and location; weekly and monthly frequencies; and longer time horizons. In each case, we connect empirical patterns to theories of money demand and payments. We show that cross-sectional and time-series payment patterns are consistent with a theoretical framework in which individual consumers choose between cash and non-cash payments based on a threshold transaction size, and we evaluate factors that may account for the variation in threshold distributions across locations and time.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Zhu & Wolman, Alexander L., 2016. "Payment choice and currency use: Insights from two billion retail transactions," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 94-115.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:moneco:v:84:y:2016:i:c:p:94-115
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2016.10.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304393216301076
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jmoneco.2016.10.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klee, Elizabeth, 2008. "How people pay: Evidence from grocery store data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 526-541, April.
    2. Naoki Wakamori & Angelika Welte, 2017. "Why Do Shoppers Use Cash? Evidence from Shopping Diary Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(1), pages 115-169, February.
    3. R. Alton Gilbert & Adam M. Zaretsky, 2003. "Banking antitrust: are the assumptions still valid?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 85(Nov), pages 29-52.
    4. Wang, Zhu, 2016. "Price cap regulation in a two-sided market: Intended and unintended consequences," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 28-37.
    5. William J. Baumol, 1952. "The Transactions Demand for Cash: An Inventory Theoretic Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 66(4), pages 545-556.
    6. Zinman, Jonathan, 2009. "Debit or credit?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 358-366, February.
    7. John Mullahy, 2010. "Multivariate Fractional Regression Estimation of Econometric Share Models," NBER Working Papers 16354, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. 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.
    9. Ching, Andrew T. & Hayashi, Fumiko, 2010. "Payment card rewards programs and consumer payment choice," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1773-1787, August.
    10. Joanna Stavins, 2013. "Security of retail payments: the new strategic objective," Public Policy Discussion Paper 13-9, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    11. Finn E. Kydland & Scott Freeman, 2000. "Monetary Aggregates and Output," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1125-1135, December.
    12. Alvarez, Fernando & Lippi, Francesco, 2017. "Cash burns: An inventory model with a cash-credit choice," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 99-112.
    13. Gourieroux, Christian & Monfort, Alain & Trognon, Alain, 1984. "Pseudo Maximum Likelihood Methods: Theory," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 681-700, May.
    14. James J. McAndrews & Zhu Wang, 2008. "The economics of two-sided payment card markets: pricing, adoption and usage," Research Working Paper RWP 08-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    15. Michael Cohen & Marc Rysman, 2012. "Payment choice with consumer panel data," Working Papers 13, University of Connecticut, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
    16. Briglevics, Tamás & Schuh, Scott, 2014. "This is what's in your wallet... and how you use it," Working Paper Series 1684, European Central Bank.
    17. Arango, Carlos & Huynh, Kim P. & Sabetti, Leonard, 2011. "How do you pay? The role of incentives at the point-of-sale," Working Paper Series 1386, European Central Bank.
    18. Scott Schuh & Joanna Stavins, 2013. "How Consumers Pay: Adoption and Use of Payments," Accounting and Finance Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 2(2), pages 1-1, May.
    19. Liang Wang & Randall Wright & Lucy Qian Liu, 2017. "Money and Credit: Theory and Applications," IMF Working Papers 2017/014, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Tamas Briglevics & Scott Schuh, 2014. "This is what's in your wallet... and here's how you use it," Working Papers 14-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    21. Gourieroux, Christian & Monfort, Alain & Trognon, Alain, 1984. "Pseudo Maximum Likelihood Methods: Applications to Poisson Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 701-720, May.
    22. Whitesell, William C, 1989. "The Demand for Currency versus Debitable Accounts: A Note," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 21(2), pages 246-257, May.
    23. Papke, Leslie E & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M, 1996. "Econometric Methods for Fractional Response Variables with an Application to 401(K) Plan Participation Rates," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(6), pages 619-632, Nov.-Dec..
    24. Lucas, Robert E. & Nicolini, Juan Pablo, 2015. "On the stability of money demand," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 48-65.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Martin Brown & Nicole Hentschel & Hannes Mettler & Helmut Stix, 2020. "Financial Innovation, Payment Choice and Cash Demand - Causal Evidence from the Staggered Introduction of Contactless Debit Cards," Working Papers on Finance 2002, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance.
    2. Martin Brown & Nicole Hentschel & Hannes Mettler & Helmut Stix, 2020. "Financial Innovation, Payment Choice and Cash Demand – Causal Evidence from the Staggered Introduction of Contactless Debit Cards (Martin Brown,Nicole Hentschel, Hannes Mettler, Helmut Stix)," Working Papers 230, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    3. Zhu Wang & Alexander L. Wolman, 2016. "Consumer Payment Choice in the Fifth District: Learning from a Retail Chain," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, issue 1Q, pages 51-78.
    4. John Bagnall & David Bounie & Kim P. Huynh & Anneke Kosse & Tobias Schmidt & Scott Schuh, 2016. "Consumer Cash Usage: A Cross-Country Comparison with Payment Diary Survey Data," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 12(4), pages 1-61, December.
    5. Zhu Wang & Alexander L. Wolman, 2014. "Payment Choice and the Future of Currency: Insights from Two Billion Retail Transactions," Working Paper 14-9, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
    6. Tamás Briglevics & Scott Schuh, 2020. "This Is What's in Your Wallet...and Here's How You Use It," Working Papers 20-04, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    7. Joanna Stavins, 2017. "How do consumers make their payment choices?," Research Data Report 17-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    8. Arango, Carlos & Huynh, Kim P. & Sabetti, Leonard, 2015. "Consumer payment choice: Merchant card acceptance versus pricing incentives," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 130-141.
    9. Naoki Wakamori & Angelika Welte, 2017. "Why Do Shoppers Use Cash? Evidence from Shopping Diary Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(1), pages 115-169, February.
    10. Vânia G. Silva & Esmeralda A. Ramalho & Carlos R. Vieira, 2017. "The Use of Cheques in the European Union: A Cross-Country Analysis," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 581-602, July.
    11. Toshitaka Sekine & Toshiaki Shoji & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2021. "Going Cashless: Evidence from Japan’s Point Reward Program," Working Papers on Central Bank Communication 036, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Economics.
    12. Toshitaka Sekine & Toshiaki Shoji & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2022. "Going Cashless: Government’s Point Reward Program vs. COVID-19," Working Papers on Central Bank Communication 040, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Economics.
    13. David Hao Zhang, 2016. "How do people pay rent?," Research Data Report 16-2, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    14. Eschelbach, Martina & Schmidt, Tobias, 2013. "Precautionary motives in short-term cash management: Evidence from German POS transactions," Discussion Papers 38/2013, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    15. Vania Silva & Esmeralda Ramalho & Carlos Vieira, 2016. "Is EMV adoption changing card payments? Evidence from the European Union," CEFAGE-UE Working Papers 2016_05, University of Evora, CEFAGE-UE (Portugal).
    16. Michael Cohen & Marc Rysman, 2012. "Payment choice with consumer panel data," Working Papers 13, University of Connecticut, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
    17. Imaduddin Sahabat & Teguh Dartanto & Haidy A. Passay & Diah Widyawati, 2017. "Electronics Payment Decisions of the Indonesian Urban Households: A Nested Logit Analysis of the Effects of the Payment Characteristics," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(5), pages 498-511.
    18. Fujiki, Hiroshi & Tanaka, Migiwa, 2018. "How do we choose to pay using evolving retail payment technologies? Evidence from Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 85-99.
    19. Oz Shy, 2013. "How many cards do you use?," Working Papers 13-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    20. Toshitaka Sekine & Toshiaki Shoji & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2022. "Going Cashless: Government’s Point Reward Program vs. COVID-19," CARF F-Series CARF-F-538, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:moneco:v:84:y:2016:i:c:p:94-115. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505566 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.