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Working Paper
Privacy Regulation and Quality Investment
This paper analyzes whether a privacy regulation that restricts a dominant firm?s data disclosure level harms the firm?s incentives to invest in service quality and thereby harms social welfare. We study how the regulation affects the privacy and quality choices of a monopoly service provider, who derives revenues solely from disclosing user data to third parties, as well as how those choices in turn affect consumers? participation and information-sharing decisions. We show that the regulation does not always harm investment incentives; moreover, even when it does, it may still improve social ...
Briefing
Still on Trial? The Court’s Use of Economic Analysis in the American Express Case
In a 2018 antitrust case, the Supreme Court ruled that American Express did not break federal laws in prohibiting merchants from steering consumers to alternative payment methods. However, some antitrust scholars disagree with how the court defined the relevant market and determined anticompetitive effects, and are concerned that the decision will make it more difficult to bring antitrust cases against payment platforms in the future.
Journal Article
Mobile Banking Use and Consumer Readiness to Benefit from Faster Payments
The U.S. payments industry is currently implementing faster payments that will enable consumers and businesses to send and receive payments almost instantly at any time of day, any day of the year. Mobile banking in particular may allow consumers to realize the full benefits of faster payments. As a result, a consumer’s use of mobile banking is a good indicator of their readiness to benefit from faster payments.Fumiko Hayashi and Ying Lei Toh examine which consumer characteristics are associated with mobile banking use as well as what other factors may influence consumer readiness. They ...
Briefing
Developments of QR Code-Based Mobile Payments in East Asia
Initiatives facilitating QR code-based mobile payments in Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong may address some pain points of banks, nonbanks, and merchants, but whether they address consumers’ depends on factors such as fragmentation and overall digital commerce experience
Briefing
How the COVID-19 Pandemic May Reshape the Digital Payments Landscape
Despite an increase in payments made via online or mobile channels in recent years, many consumers have not yet adopted digital payments. The COVID-19 pandemic may be shifting more consumers toward digital payments, along with industry and legislative initiatives designed to facilitate broader access.
Briefing
Assessing the Case for Retail CBDCs: Central Banks’ Considerations
Many central banks around the world have been researching, experimenting, or developing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Although central banks in several emerging markets and developing economies have implemented or plan to implement a general-purpose, or retail, CBDC to promote financial inclusion and improve their payment systems, central banks in many advanced economies have not yet found a compelling case for a retail CBDC.
Journal Article
Pandemic Relief Has Aided Low-Income Individuals: Evidence from Alternative Financial Services
Although low-income individuals are more likely to have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pandemic relief efforts may have helped prevent them from experiencing increased financial distress. Consumer interest in payday loans, title loans, and pawn loans have all declined since the onset of the pandemic, suggesting low-income individuals have been able to access credit and meet basic financial needs without the use of these alternative financial services.
Journal Article
Prepaid Cards: An Inadequate Solution for Digital Payments Inclusion
Although prepaid cards have the potential to address digital payments exclusion, their use among unbanked households remains low.
Working Paper
Prior Fraud Exposure and Precautionary Credit Market Behavior
We study how past experiences with privacy shocks affect individuals’ likelihood to take precautionary behavior when faced with a new privacy shock in the context of credit markets. We focus on experiences with identity theft and data breaches, two kinds of privacy shocks that either directly lead to fraud or put an individual at an elevated risk of experiencing fraud. We show that immediately after the announcement of the 2017 Equifax data breach, individuals with either kind of prior fraud exposure were more likely to freeze their credit report and close credit card accounts than ...
Briefing
When Paying Bills, Low-Income Consumers Incur Higher Costs
Low-income consumers are more likely to pay bills using costlier payment methods, even when they have access to cheaper bank account-based methods. Digital exclusion, cash flow constraints, and lack of trust in or familiarity with electronic payment methods may explain low-income consumers’ reliance on costlier bill payment methods.