Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
addClaim

Payments Evolution from Paper to Electronic Payments by Merchant Type

Authors: Cohen, Ruth; Shy, Oz; Stavins, Joanna;

Payments Evolution from Paper to Electronic Payments by Merchant Type

Abstract

The use of paper instruments-cash and checks-has been declining in the United States, and consumers have been gradually replacing paper with cards and electronic payments. Stavins (2021) examines the evolution of payments from paper to cards and electronic payments, while Shy (2020) shows the payments landscape across merchant types. This paper combines the cross-sectional analysis across merchants with the aggregate time series study to analyze the evolution of consumer payments by merchant type. Using data from a representative diary survey of US consumers collected annually over the past several years, we examine changes for each merchant type to assess which transactions shifted from paper to electronic payments and from in-person to remote transactions. We find that cash use declined faster than check use, in large part because transactions shifted from in person to remote. While the cash-use share of transactions dropped for almost all merchant types, changes in check use were much more heterogenous across merchants. COVID-19 accelerated the payments evolution away from cash for some merchant types, as their drop in cash payments was much larger during the pandemic than prior to it. Merchants whose transactions are typically conducted in person experienced the largest decline in cash payments during the pandemic. Regression results show that the probability of using either cash or checks declined significantly in 2019 and 2020, even after controlling for merchant types, the dollar value of transactions, and consumers' socio-demographic attributes.

Keywords

ddc:330, cards, D12, D14, consumer payments, electronic payments, cash, merchant category, check, E42

  • BIP!
    Impact byBIP!
    selected citations
    These citations are derived from selected sources.
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    3
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Top 10%
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Average
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
3
Top 10%
Average
Average
Related to Research communities
Upload OA version
Are you the author of this publication? Upload your Open Access version to Zenodo!
It’s fast and easy, just two clicks!