Millions of Americans are hooked on the convenience of ATMs. But ready cash is getting more expensive. Should policymakers butt in or let the marketplace decide?

This paper investigates depository institutions' decisions whether or not to impose surcharges (direct usage fees) on non-depositors who use their ATMs. In addition to documenting patterns of surcharging, we examine motives for surcharging, including both direct generation of fee revenue and the...

We estimate a structural model of the market for automatic teller machines (ATMs) in order to evaluate the implications of regulating ATM surcharges on ATM entry and consumer and producer surplus. We estimate the model using data on firm and consumer locations, and identify the parameters of the...

The recent spread of ATM surcharges has sparked significant debate among consumers, policymakers, and ATM owners. Much of this debate has focused on the direct costs that surcharges impose on consumers. The use of ATM surcharges, however, also raises broader questions about ATM deployment,...

Many consumers who lack checking accounts are paying relatively high costs to access the nation's payments system. Legislation aimed at opening the system to these unbanked individuals has centered on requiring commercial banks to offer low-cost "lifeline" accounts. But will cost savings alone...

This paper develops a model of wholesale and retail fee-setting for automated teller machine (ATM) network services, and comparative statics results are derived. Retail ATM fees are shown to be dependent on the demand-side network effect and economies of scale in production of network services....