In this report, Biasi and Chakravorti study the rapidly growing although extremely volatile initial coin offering (ICO) market. We identify which traditional markets are being disrupted by ICOs. We discuss the necessary infrastructure needed to support this market. We analyze market dynamics in terms of volatility, global presence, the impact...
Bob Chakravorti presented at Payments Canada 2018 in Toronto on May 9, 2018. He discussed the response of incumbents to the entry of FinTech firms. Specifically, he discussed payment, lending, wealth management, and cryptocurrency segments. He touched on the role of regulation and discussed the lack of banking services in...
Baumann, Chakravorti, and Shaaya identify and summarize the recent academic and industry literature on the benefits of large banks from the perspective of economies of scale and scope along with the benefits of a large, diverse set of products and services provided by a large bank. Second, they explore how...
In this book chapter, Chakravorti considers linkages between consumer payments and credit. Payors, those that make payments, and payees, those that receive payments, choose among various payment instruments based on their preferences toward convenience, risk, and cost. According to a recent U.S. survey, the usage of payment cards is increasing...
Chakravorti and To construct a two-period model to study the interactions among consumers, merchants, and a card issuer. The model yields the following results. First, if the issuer's cost of funds is not too high and the merchant's profit margin is sufficiently high, in every equilibrium of our model the...
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...
In this article, Chakravorti and McHugh address why consumers, merchants, and financial institutions are reluctant to embrace electronic payments even though electronic payment networks, such as the credit card and automated clearinghouse (ACH) networks, have existed for more than 25 years. While most Internet-based transactions are primarily processed via credit...
Chakravorti and Roson construct a model to study competing payment networks, where networks offer differentiated products in terms of benefits to consumers and merchants. We study market equilibria for a variety of market structures: duopolistic competition and cartel, symmetric and asymmetric networks, and alternative assumptions about consumer preferences. We find...
Chakravorti investigates payments system reforms begun by the Bank of Mexico in 1994. The goals of these reforms are to reduce the amount of uncollateralized intraday credit extended by the Bank of Mexico (previously unlimited), to promote a market-based allocation of intraday credit for interbank payments, and to move large-value...