Finnish payment methods have changed rapidly as payment cards have gained increasing popularity and have, to an extent, replaced cash. This article examines this phenomenon and the trends in cash and electronic payment methods in Finland. It starts with an introduction to the statistical data on...

Empirical evidence on the effect of defense spending on US output is at best mixed. Against this backdrop, this paper assesses the impact of a positive defense spending shock on the growth rate of real GNP using a FAVAR model estimated with 116 variables spanning the quarterly period of 1976:01...

This paper assesses the predictive ability of asset prices relative to other variables in forecasting inflation and real GDP growth in South Africa. A total of 42 asset and non-asset predictor variables are considered. Forecasts of inflation and real GDP growth are computed using both individual...

This paper assesses the impact of a monetary policy shock on 15 key macroeconomic variables of South Africa, in the pre- and post-inflation targeting periods. For this purpose, we use a Factor-Augmented Vector Autoregressive (FAVAR) model comprising of 107 monthly time series over two equal...

This paper assesses the impact of monetary policy on house price inflation for the nine census divisions of the US economy using a factor-augmented VAR (FAVAR), estimated a large data set comprising of 126 quarterly series over the period 1976:01 to 2005:02. The results based on the impulse...

This paper assesses the impact of monetary policy on real house price growth in South Africa using a factor-augmented vector autoregression (FAVAR), estimated based on a large data set comprising of 246 quarterly series over the period 1980:01 to 2006:04. The results based on the impulse...

In this study, the interaction between the competition-cooperation nexus and regulation in retail payment systems is analysed by applying the main lessons from the theory of network industries. This is justifiable on the grounds that the payment systems industry inherently has many...

This paper considers effects of price regulation in retail payment systems by applying the model of tele-communications competition by Laffont-Rey-Tirole (1998). In our two-country model world there is one retail payment network located in each country and markets are segmented à la Hotelling....

This paper examines the fundamental relationship between retail payments and overall economic growth. Using data from across 27 European markets over the period 1995–2009, the results confirm that migration to efficient electronic retail payments stimulates overall economic growth, consumption...

Using a spatial competition model of retail payment networks, this paper discusses the likely economic consequences associated with the formation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The model considers an expansion of positive network externalities on the demand side and adjustment cost on...