Greater digitization of commerce has brought enormous benefits to businesses and consumers. By using digital payment capabilities and online marketplaces, many micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are more able to compete with larger firms through greater customer choice and reach. This paper examines the results of a Visa Economic...
In this article, Chakravorti asks why have general-purpose stored-value cards been unsuccessful in penetrating the U.S. market? Three necessary conditions for a payment instrument to be successful are discussed: consumers and merchants need to be convinced of its advantages over existing payment alternatives for at least some types of transactions...
Chakravorti and Emmons model side payments in a competitive creditâcard market. If competitive retailers absorb the cost of accepting credit cards by charging a higher goods price to everyone, then someone must subsidize convenience users of credit cards to prevent them from defecting to merchants who do not accept cards...