The key questions that Chakravorti asks in this book chapter are: (1) How is the payment system evolving? (2) What are the economic forces driving the adoption of new payment instruments? (3) Would recent developments in the payment system limit the central bank from conducting monetary policy? He argues that...
In this article, Chakravorti and Lubasi conclude that prepaid applications potentially provide a more cost-effective means to transfer funds when: 1) recipients of funds do not have transactions accounts; 2) disbursers of funds do not have access to the recipient’s transactions accounts, or 3) the disbursers of funds need to...
Businesses, both small and large, are adopting new technologies to automate and reduce the exchange of paper documents in their transaction flows. However, more than 80% of payments between businesses are still made with paper checks. As the exchange of information along the supply chain becomes increasingly electronic, it raises...
The proportion of retail, non-cash payments made electronically in the U.S. grew from 15% in 1979 to 40% in 2000. A recent Chicago Fed conference addressed the important question of whether today's payment networks can adequately support emerging payment technologies.
Credit cards provide benefits to consumers and merchants not provided by other payment instruments as evidenced by their explosive growth in the number and value of transactions over the last 20 years. Recently, credit card networks have come under scrutiny from regulators and antitrust authorities around the world. The costs...