The European Central Bank (ECB) carried out a study of the social and private costs of different payment instruments with the participation of 13 national central banks in the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It shows that the costs to society of providing retail payment services are...

In a modern economy, the payment system is a major component of the country's infrastructure system. Indeed, no country nowadays can afford to take its payment system for granted. Advances in information technology and changes in laws, institutions and regulations in some countries have...

We estimate the social and private costs of consumer-to-business payments in Sweden in 2009. The combined social cost for these payments was 0.68 per cent of GDP. At the point of sale, cash is socially less costly than debit cards for payments below EUR 1.88 (SEK 20) and credit cards below EUR...

In Denmark the most frequent means of payment are cash and dankort. A survey study of Danish payment behaviour reveals that older citizens as well as low-income groups in particular prefer cash. A recent change in Danish surcharge regulation permits retailers to charge a fee when receiving...