IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/iccp17/162908.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Pay cash, buy less trash? – Evidence from German payment diary data

Author

Listed:
  • Eschelbach, Martina

Abstract

This research note empirically investigates whether cash can prevent consumers from making needless purchases in unexpected shopping situations. Cash can have a disciplinary effect on short-term consumption because it imposes a strong temporary budget constraint and also reinforces the pain of paying. I use a sample of unexpected shopping situations that were recorded by participants of the Bundesbank’s study on payment behaviour. I find that the probability of a transaction subsequently being declared unnecessary is significantly lower when the consumer had paid the transaction in cash. The results are similar across different socioeconomic groups based on age, gender, education and income. I conclude that restricting the use of cash for transaction purposes can entail a reduction in consumer welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Eschelbach, Martina, 2017. "Pay cash, buy less trash? – Evidence from German payment diary data," International Cash Conference 2017 – War on Cash: Is there a Future for Cash? 162908, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:iccp17:162908
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/162908/1/Eschelbach.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lola Hernandez & Nicole Jonker & Anneke Kosse, 2017. "Cash versus Debit Card: The Role of Budget Control," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 91-112, March.
    2. Manoj Thomas & Kalpesh Kaushik Desai & Satheeshkumar Seenivasan, 2011. "How Credit Card Payments Increase Unhealthy Food Purchases: Visceral Regulation of Vices," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(1), pages 126-139.
    3. Ulf Kalckreuth & Tobias Schmidt & Helmut Stix, 2014. "Choosing and using payment instruments: evidence from German microdata," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 1019-1055, May.
    4. Drazen Prelec & George Loewenstein, 1998. "The Red and the Black: Mental Accounting of Savings and Debt," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 4-28.
    5. Schmiedel, Heiko & Kostova, Gergana & Ruttenberg, Wiebe, 2012. "The social and private costs of retail payment instruments: a European perspective," Occasional Paper Series 137, European Central Bank.
    6. Gary Chamberlain, 1980. "Analysis of Covariance with Qualitative Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(1), pages 225-238.
    7. Kenneth Rogoff, 2015. "Costs and Benefits to Phasing out Paper Currency," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(1), pages 445-456.
    8. Runnemark, Emma & Hedman, Jonas & Xiao, Xiao, 2014. "Do Consumers Pay More Using Debit Cards than Cash? An Experiment," Working Papers 2014:21, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    9. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    10. Eschelbach, Martina & Schmidt, Tobias, 2013. "Precautionary motives in short-term cash management: Evidence from German POS transactions," Discussion Papers 38/2013, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    11. Soman, Dilip, 2001. "Effects of Payment Mechanism on Spending Behavior: The Role of Rehearsal and Immediacy of Payments," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(4), pages 460-474, March.
    12. Schmiedel, Heiko & Kostova, Gergana & Ruttenberg, Wiebe, 2012. "The social and private costs of retail payment instruments: a European perspective," Occasional Paper Series 137, European Central Bank.
    13. Promothesh Chatterjee & Randall L. Rose, 2012. "Do Payment Mechanisms Change the Way Consumers Perceive Products?," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(6), pages 1129-1139.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yizhao Jiang, 2022. "The Influence of Payment Method: Do Consumers Pay More with Mobile Payment?," Papers 2210.14631, arXiv.org.

    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. Bruno Karoubi & Régis Chenavaz & Corina Paraschiv, 2016. "Consumers’ perceived risk and hold and use of payment instruments," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(14), pages 1317-1329, March.
    2. Yizhao Jiang, 2022. "The Influence of Payment Method: Do Consumers Pay More with Mobile Payment?," Papers 2210.14631, arXiv.org.
    3. Falk, Tomas & Kunz, Werner H. & Schepers, Jeroen J.L. & Mrozek, Alexander J., 2016. "How mobile payment influences the overall store price image," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 2417-2423.
    4. Codruta Rusu & Helmut Stix, 2017. "Cash and card payments – recent results of the Austrian payment diary survey," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q1/17, pages 1-35.
    5. Sarofim, Samer & Chatterjee, Promothesh & Rose, Randall, 2020. "When store credit cards hurt retailers: The differential effect of paying credit card dues on consumers' purchasing behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 290-301.
    6. Arvind Agrawal & James W. Gentry, 2020. "Why do many consumers prefer to pay now when they could pay later?," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 607-627, June.
    7. Zha, Yong & Wang, Yuting & Li, Quan & Yao, Wenying, 2022. "Credit offering strategy and dynamic pricing in the presence of consumer strategic behavior," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 303(2), pages 753-766.
    8. Rufina Gafeeva & Erik Hoelzl & Holger Roschk, 2018. "What else can your payment card do? Multifunctionality of payment modes can reduce payment transparency," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 61-72, March.
    9. Promothesh Chatterjee & Randall Rose & Jayati Sinha, 2013. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Why money meanings matter in decisions to donate time and money," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 109-118, June.
    10. Codruta Rusu & Helmut Stix, 2017. "Von Bar- und Kartenzahlern – Aktuelle Ergebnisse zur Zahlungsmittelnutzung in Österreich," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 1, pages 54-85.
    11. Shinhye Kim & Alberto Sa Vinhas & U.N. Umesh, 2022. "Prepayment and future cross-buying: an exploratory analysis," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 415-439, September.
    12. Chris Stewart & Iris Chan & Crystal Ossolinski & David Halperin & Paul Ryan, 2014. "The Evolution of Payment Costs in Australia," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp2014-14, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    13. Luqiong Tong & Yuhuang Zheng & Ping Zhao, 2013. "Is money really the root of all evil? The impact of priming money on consumer choice," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 119-129, June.
    14. Bernadette Kamleitner & Berna Erki, 2013. "Payment method and perceptions of ownership," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 57-69, March.
    15. José Bran-Guevara & Luisa Fernanda Hernández-Ávila & Daniela McAllister-Harker, 2022. "Servicios Financieros Digitales en Colombia: Una caracterización y análisis de riesgos potenciales," Borradores de Economia 1193, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    16. Brett Theodos & Christina Plerhoples Stacy & Devlin Hanson & Julian Jamison & Rebecca Daniels, 2020. "Do not swipe the small stuff: A randomized evaluation of rules of thumb‐based financial education," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 701-722, June.
    17. Shi, Haijiao & Chen, Rong & Xu, Xiaobing, 2021. "How reward uncertainty influences subsequent donations: The role of mental accounting," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 383-391.
    18. Khan, Jashim & Belk, Russell W. & Craig-Lees, Margaret, 2015. "Measuring consumer perceptions of payment mode," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 34-49.
    19. Jean N. Lee & Jonathan Morduch & Saravana Ravindran & Abu S. Shonchoy, 2023. "The Social Meaning of Mobile Money: Willingness to Pay with Mobile Money in Bangladesh," Working Papers 2304, Florida International University, Department of Economics.
    20. Wojciech Ewider, 2021. "Development of modern payment methods in Poland as an example of technological leapfrogging," Zeszyty Naukowe Małopolskiej Wyższej Szkoły Ekonomicznej w Tarnowie / The Malopolska School of Economics in Tarnow Research Papers Collection, Malopolska School of Economics in Tarnow, vol. 50(2), pages 79-91, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    payment behaviour; consumer choice; overspending;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D18 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Protection

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:zbw:iccp17:162908. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dbbgvde.html .

    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.