The costs and benefits to payment system participants can differ depending on which payment mechanism is used. The authors specifically explore the costs and benefits of prepaid card applications versus other payment instruments, such as cash, checks, and debit cards, for certain payment...

This article surveys the recent theoretical literature on payment cards (focusing on debit and credit cards) and studies this research's possible implications for the current public policy debate over payment card networks and the pricing of their services for both consumers and merchants.

The authors identify underlying disincentives for payment system participants to migrate to electronic payments. Their analysis sheds light on why check usage remains higher in the United States relative to other industrialized countries when the real resource cost of processing payments may...