We investigate the impact of cross-border takeovers on the performance of target banks in Ukraine. We combine propensity score matching and a difference-in-difference methodology, checking for temporary unobservables. Acquirers mainly targeted large less-capitalised banks with average efficiency...

This article analyses the competition between cash and payment cards against the backdrop of the dual role of central banks - as issuers of cash and as institutions with a mandate to foster the efficiency of payment systems in general. It is argued that this dual role results in a number of...

A number of recent articles argue that the "problem of Bachet"--the problem of finding the most efficient set of standard weights--can shed light on the problem of finding the optimal denominations of coins and bank notes. The present note opposes this view and shows that the two problems are...

We are witnessing a shake-out in the European electronic purse market. Several cards that have been in the market for years have or are about to disappear. On the other hand, there are a number of schemes that are doing reasonably well, particularly in the Benelux. This article looks at the...

The final stage of the changeover to the euro consisted of the introduction of euro coins and banknotes on 1 January, 2002. The national changeover plans, that provided the scenarios, were based on the exclusive transaction function of money. However, in most European countries...

One of the most important results of theoretical research on currency systems is that spacing denominations apart by a factor of two is better than a factor of three as this lowers the average number of notes and coins exchanged in transactions. These theoretical studies also claim that an...

We develop an analytical framework that allows central banks to assess whether changing the manufacturing material of their tokens would be beneficial. Applied to the case of the U.S., we find that a complete adoption of plastic notes would save the Fed $140 million per year but would entail a...

Prompted by experimental evidence on multiplicity distributions of particles produced in high energy collisions, we study the class of distributions of points in a continuous domain D0, characterized by the property that the multiplicity of points in D0 and in any subdomain D of D0 has a...