Approximately 42 billion checks were written and collected in the United States in 2000. The vast majority of noncash transactions continue to be settled with paper checks, which despite gains in efficiency and speed, still require costly and time-consuming sorting and transportation. An...

Sticky interest rates on credit card plans have long been a mystery. One possible explanation is that banks maintain high rates because consumers' demand for credit card loans is inelastic. This study tests and rejects that hypothesis. Demand for credit card loans is found to be elastic with...

The authors analyze the effect of bank mergers on deposit interest rates, using data on banks responding to the Federal Reserve's Monthly Survey of Selected Deposits over an 11-year period. Their results suggest that banks exercise market power in pricing money market deposits and CD's in their...

Network externalities exist when the value of a good or service to a potential consumer increases with the number of other consumers using the same product. For a service characterized by network externalities, adoption and use can be below the socially optimal level because consumers or firms...

Recent evidence shows that the supply of deposits to checking accounts is not elastic with respect to the interest rates paid. That suggests that various features attached to checking accounts may be important in determining the supply of deposits and banks' and revenues from the fees. This...

ATM networks have allowed banks to charge non-customers for withdrawing money from their ATMs since 1996, but ATM surcharges have been criticized repeatedly by consumer advocates and politicians. Large banks have been especially targeted, because they are more likely to impose the fees and their...

Each year, about 60 billion checks are collected in the United States. While the shares of electronic payments methods such as the automated clearing house and credit and debit cards have been growing in recent years, the volume of checks has grown by more in absolute numbers during the last 20...

The personal computer market underwent significant structural changes throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. While some manufacturers of personal computers managed to remain in the market for a number of years, many others left after a short time. Besides the more visible movement of firms in and...

Credit card delinquencies and personal bankruptcy rates increased during the mid 1990s, despite the strength of the U.S. economy. Even though per capita income rose during that period, household borrowing grew at an even faster pace. The rise in revolving debt-mainly credit card loans-was...

Predictions about a cashless and checkless society have been made for many years, but retail payments transactions made with electronic payment instruments still constitute only a small fraction of all payments made in the United States. This is the case despite differences in cost and despite...