The electronic purse, a new payments instrument offering advantages to both consumers and merchants, may soon replace currency in many routine transactions. Widespread use of the electronic purse could, however, raise concerns about consumer protection and the safety and soundness of the instrument.

To improve efficiency, some large retailers, suppliers, and distributors have begun to conduct business-to-business commerce electronically. This practice could grow rapidly if the Internet becomes the primary low-cost network for such transactions. Before the Internet can fully support...

The delivery and payment of bills over the Internet could offer many advantages—low processing costs and enhanced marketing opportunities for billers, savings in time and postage for customers. Nevertheless, electronic billing has not found favor with potential users. A lack of coordination...

Electronic billing and payment systems are about to change the way many households pay their monthly bills. These systems are likely to increase consumer convenience and reduce billers' costs. Several factors, however, could slow down the widespread use of electronic billing and payments,...

Pricing should speed up the substitution of low cost electronic payments for expensive paper-based transactions and cash. But by how much? Norway has explicitly priced individual payment transactions and rapidly shifted to electronic payments while the Netherlands has experienced the same shift...

Electronic payments are considerably cheaper than their paper-based alternatives. Similarly, ATMs are a more cost-efficient way to deliver certain depositor services than are branch offices. As the share of electronic payments in 12 European countries rose from 0.43 in 1987 to 0.79 in 1999 and...