Electronic payments in the U.S. economy : an overview

Business publications are filled these days with stories about the digital or electronic economy. One routinely reads about e-commerce, e-business, and e-banking. Terms such as e-mail and e-tickets have entered the common lexicon. Some analysts have gone so far as to proclaim that the U.S. economy is being fundamentally transformed and is entering a "new age" of unparalleled growth and opportunity.> While such a view is open to debate, clearly some major, potentially far-ranging, changes are under way. The most visible and most dramatic involve e-commerce. A growing amount of economic activity is taking place on the Internet, directly or indirectly impacting households and businesses throughout the economy. Less visible, but also significant, are changes involving "e-payments." Although the U.S. payments system continues to rely heavily on paper-based methods, cash and checks, for conducting transactions, electronic payments are steadily gaining a greater presence.> Weiner provides an overview of e-payments as they currently exist in the United States. He shows that the U.S. payments system is becoming more electronic, principally through traditional means. While new instruments are beginning to emerge, it is the traditional e-payment types--credit cards, debit cards, and ACH transactions--that are driving the U.S. payments system forward.