The aim of this paper is to show that the network externalities theory provides a useful framework to analyse the introduction and further development of the new electronic payment instruments currently being launched. To that end the paper presents a pragmatic (and selective) reading of the...

These last few months the move toward the standardization of electronic purses has gained considerable momentum. Card issuers and newspapers present this move as crucial for cross-border transactions and especially urgent for the euro-zone. Starting from the network externalities theory, I argue...

This paper analyses how e-purse developers have tried to penetrate international markets. The analysis covers the period between 1992 and 2006, and builds on 16 firm-level case studies that span developments in more than 30 countries around the globe. The paper uses a novel multi-dimensional...

A growing body of central bank studies show that cash payments are costly for society and that electronic payment instruments are more efficient. This paper tries to find out whether Thaler and Sunstein's libertarian paternalism - as promoted in their 2008 book Nudge - can offer novel ways to...

This article brings together a number of recent studies for Belgium and the Netherlands in order to show that the War On Cash is a cause worth fighting for. It builds on two central bank studies to show that the social cost of cash is substantial, and that society would benefit from a switch to...

This paper analyses the websites of 82 national daily newspapers in eight Western European countries, in order to determine their online revenue models. Overall, 80.5 per cent of our newspapers try to monetise (part of) their online content in direct ways. In doing so, the bulk of the paying...

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...

The payments market is a dynamic market. Novel payment instruments are being launched at a fast clip. Unfortunately, a classification that adequately distinguishes all possible payment instruments by their most relevant characteristics is missing in the literature. In this paper a classification...

This is a companion paper to Van Hove (2007). The latter paper builds on 16 firm-level case studies to examine the drivers behind the internationalization efforts of e-purse developers. Specifically, the paper tries to find out whether the approach proposed by Sarkar et al. (1999) for the...

A number of recent articles argue that the 'problem of Bachet' - the problem of finding the most efficient set of weights - can shed light on the problem of finding the optimal denominational structure of a series of coins and bank notes. This note argues that the two problems differ in nature,...