A recent empirical study conducted by Robert Barro and published by the Bank of England finds surprisingly little evidence for harmful effects of inflation on growth, seemingly refuting the many theories purporting the contrary. Have the costs of inflation been exaggerated in the past? Is...

The pricing of payments has received increasing attention of regulators. In many cases, regulators are concerned that consumers do not face cost based prices. They argue that without cost based prices consumers will make inefficient choices. In this paper, it is argued that both, economics of...

In Ireland, there was a bank strike that led to a complete shut-down of the main part of the banking system from May to November 1970. The effects of this strike were surprisingly limited. This had led some observers to conclude that trade credit can easily substitute for bank deposits as a...

This article looks at the evolution of the Target balance of the Greek central bank. It is shown that in the first 18 months “after Lehman”, lending policy has been relatively lax, contributing to the increase of Target deficits. However, from spring 2010 onwards, there has been a...

Card payment systems are sometimes accused of taking from the poor and giving to the rich. The argument is as follows: High card fees are leading to higher retail prices for both, card users and cash users. However, high income card holders are receiving rewards when purchasing by card. The...