IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedpcd/93058.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Future of Cash

Author

Listed:
  • Solomon H. Tarlin

Abstract

In many advanced economies around the world, the share of transactions conducted using cash payments has been falling over the past several years. This change has likely been because of a combination of shifting consumer tastes, improvements in payment technology (specifically credit and debit cards), and the rapid growth of online transactions. As the decline in the cash share has led to some businesses choosing not to accept cash payments, many policymakers have discussed interventions to ensure access to the modern economy for consumers who prefer to pay in cash. Despite the reduced use of cash as a means of payment, currency in circulation has continued to increase in many countries, including the United States. This increase suggests that cash is still providing utility as a store of value. This paper surveys literature and data on the use of cash as a means of payment and discusses how and why the cash share is falling in the United States and around the world. Furthermore, it also discusses the opportunities and challenges of a transition away from cash for consumers, businesses, and society.

Suggested Citation

  • Solomon H. Tarlin, 2021. "The Future of Cash," Community Affairs Discussion Paper 21-03, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpcd:93058
    DOI: 10.21799/frbp.dp.2021.03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.philadelphiafed.org/-/media/frbp/assets/consumer-finance/discussion-papers/dp21-03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.21799/frbp.dp.2021.03?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marie-Hélène Felt & Fumiko Hayashi & Joanna Stavins & Angelika Welte, 2020. "Distributional Effects of Payment Card Pricing and Merchant Cost Pass-through in the United States and Canada," Working Papers 20-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    2. Jonathan Ashworth & Charles A.E. Goodhart, 2020. "The Surprising Recovery of Currency Usage," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 16(3), pages 239-277, June.
    3. repec:fip:a00001:89583 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Hiroshi FUJIKI & Kiyotaka Nakashima, 2019. "Cash Usage Trends in Japan: Evidence Using Aggregate and Household Survey Data," Working Papers e131, Tokyo Center for Economic Research.
    5. Carlos Arango & Varya Taylor, 2008. "Merchants' Costs of Accepting Means of Payment: Is Cash the Least Costly?," Bank of Canada Review, Bank of Canada, vol. 2008(Winter), pages 17-25.
    6. Walter Engert & Ben Fung & Björn Segendorf, 2019. "A Tale of Two Countries: Cash Demand in Canada and Sweden," Discussion Papers 2019-7, Bank of Canada.
    7. Kim Huynh & Gradon Nicholls & Oleksandr Shcherbakov, 2019. "Explaining the Interplay Between Merchant Acceptance and Consumer Adoption in Two-Sided Markets for Payment Methods," Staff Working Papers 19-32, Bank of Canada.
    8. Julia S. Cheney & Robert M. Hunt & Katy Jacob & Richard D. Porter & Bruce J. Summers, 2012. "The efficiency and integrity of payment card systems: industry views on the risks posed by data breaches," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 36(Q IV), pages 130-146.
    9. Ashworth, J. & Goodhart, C. A. E., 2020. "The surprising recovery of currency usage," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 105303, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Hanna Armelius & Carl Andreas Claussen & André Reslow, 2022. "Withering Cash: Is Sweden Ahead of the Curve or Just Special?," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 18(4), pages 1-52, October.
    11. Tamás Briglevics & Oz Shy, 2014. "Why Don’t Most Merchants Use Price Discounts to Steer Consumer Payment Choice?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(4), pages 367-392, June.
    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. Rösl, Gerhard & Seitz, Franz, 2021. "Cash and crises: No surprises by the virus," IMFS Working Paper Series 150, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS).
    2. Hanna Armelius & Carl Andreas Claussen & André Reslow, 2022. "Withering Cash: Is Sweden Ahead of the Curve or Just Special?," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 18(4), pages 1-52, October.
    3. Claussen, Carl Andreas & Segendorff, Björn & Seitz, Franz, 2023. "Cash for Transactions or Store-of-Value? A comparative study on Sweden and peer countries," Working Paper Series 427, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    4. Jeremy Srouji, 2020. "Digital Payments, the Cashless Economy, and Financial Inclusion in the United Arab Emirates: Why Is Everyone Still Transacting in Cash?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-10, October.
    5. Rösl, Gerhard & Seitz, Franz, 2023. "Uncertainty, politics, and crises: The case for cash," IMFS Working Paper Series 186, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS).
    6. Noll, Franklin & Lipkin, Andrei, 2021. "Smart Banknotes and Cryptobanknotes: Hybrid Banknotes for Central Bank Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrency Payments," MPRA Paper 110887, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Muñoz, Manuel A. & Soons, Oscar, 2023. "Public money as a store of value, heterogeneous beliefs, and banks: implications of CBDC," Working Paper Series 2801, European Central Bank.
    8. Hongyu Xiao, 2024. "Demand for Canadian Banknotes from International Travel: Indirect Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic," Staff Working Papers 24-23, Bank of Canada.
    9. Kim Huynh & Gradon Nicholls & Mitchell Nicholson, 2019. "2018 Merchant Acceptance Survey," Staff Analytical Notes 2019-31, Bank of Canada.
    10. Franz Seitz & Lucas Devigne & Raymond de Pastor, 2022. "Different Motives for Holding Cash in France: an Analysis of the Net Cash Issues of the Banque de France," Working papers 888, Banque de France.
    11. Edoardo Rainone, 2022. "Currency demand at negative policy rates," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1359, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    12. Hans-Eggert Reimers & Friedrich Schneider & Franz Seitz, 2020. "Payment Innovations, the Shadow Economy and Cash Demand of Households in Euro Area Countries," CESifo Working Paper Series 8574, CESifo.
    13. Kotkowski, Radoslaw, 2023. "National culture and the demand for physical money during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    14. Jeremy Samer Srouji, 2020. "Digital Payments, the Cashless Economy, and Financial Inclusion in the United Arab Emirates: Why Is Everyone Still Transacting in Cash?," Post-Print hal-03015357, HAL.
    15. Alfar, Abdelrahman J.K. & Kumpamool, Chamaiporn & Nguyen, Dung T.K. & Ahmed, Rizwan, 2023. "The determinants of issuing central bank digital currencies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Rösl, Gerhard & Seitz, Franz, 2024. "Resilience and the cash infrastructure: The role of access, acceptance, availability, and affordability," Weidener Diskussionspapiere 93, University of Applied Sciences Amberg-Weiden (OTH).
    17. Serhan Cevik, 2020. "Dirty money: Does the risk of infectious disease lower demand for cash?," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 460-471, December.
    18. Jacek Pietrucha & Grzegorz Maciejewski, 2020. "Precautionary Demand for Cash and Perceived Risk of Electronic Payments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-25, September.
    19. Yulia Titova & Delia Cornea & Sébastien Lemeunier, 2021. "What Factors Keep Cash Alive in the European Union?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 291-317, August.
    20. Tamás Végsõ, 2020. "Comparative Analysis of the Changes in Cash Demand in Hungary," Financial and Economic Review, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary), vol. 19(1), pages 90-118.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    cashless society; cash payments; electronic payments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

    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:fip:fedpcd:93058. 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: Beth Paul (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbphus.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.