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on Payment Systems and Financial Technology |
| By: | Blumenstock, Joshua; Callen, Michael; Ghani, Tarek |
| Abstract: | Through a field experiment in Afghanistan, we show that default enrollment in a defined contribution plan increases saving rates by 40 percentage points, and that present-biased preferences mainly drive this effect. Working with Afghanistan's primary mobile phone operator, we designed and deployed a new mobile phone-based automatic payroll deduction system. Each of 967 employees at the firm was randomly assigned a default contribution rate (either 0% or 5%) as well as a matching incentive rate (0%, 25%, or 50%). We find that employees initially assigned a default contribution rate of 5% are 40 percentage points more likely to contribute to the account 6 months later than individuals assigned to a default contribution rate of zero; to achieve this effect through financial incentives alone would require a 50% match from the employer. We also find evidence of habit formation: default enrollment increases the likelihood that employees continue to save after end of the trial, and increases employees' self-reported interest in saving and sense of financial security. To understand the mechanism behind these effects, we conducted several experimental interventions and measured employee time preferences. Ruling out several competing explanations, we find evidence that the default effect is driven largely by present-biased preferences that cause the employee to procrastinate in making a non-default election. |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11400&r=pay |
| By: | Elena-Iulia Ap\u{a}v\u{a}loaie; Liviu Onoriu Marian; Elena Lucia Harpa |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to get an overview of the online buyer profile, and also some key aspects in the way the online shopping is conducted. In this project we conducted a quantitative research, consisting of a questionnaire based survey. For data processing and interpretation we used SPSS statistical software and Excel. For data analysis, we used the descriptive statistics indicators, and a series of bi-varied analysis for testing some statistical assumptions. Viewed at first with skepticism by the Internet users in Romania, because of the many news about how dangerous the credit card payments are, the online stores have gained much ground and trust in the recent years. Since the study was conducted mainly in the online environment, we can not talk about the representativeness of the sample, only about a trend observed in the studied population. The study helps us understand the population reactions and attitudes regarding the online shopping. The study revealed some important issues regarding the online shopping in Mures county, issues that are described in detail in the content of this paper. |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1607.07706&r=pay |
| By: | Williams, Robert Crane |
| Abstract: | An on-line survey of experts was conducted to solicit their views on policy priorities in the area of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Caribbean. The experts considered the goal to “promote teacher training in the use of ICTs in the classroom” to be the highest priority, followed by goals to “reduce the cost of broadband services” and “promote the use of ICT in emergency and disaster prevention, preparedness and response.” Goals in the areas of cybercrime, e-commerce, egovernment, universal service funds, consumer protection, and on-line privacy rounded out the top 10. Some of the lowest ranked goals were those related to coordinating the management of infrastructure changes. These included the switchover for digital terrestrial television (DTT) and digital FM radio, cloud computing for government ICT, the introduction of satellite-based internet services, and the installation of content distribution networks (CDNs). Initiatives aimed at using ICT to promote specific industries, or specific means of promoting the digital economy, tended toward the centre of the rankings. Thus, a general pattern emerged which elevated the importance of focusing on how ICT is integrated into the broader society, with economic issues a lower priority, and concerns about coordination on infrastructure issues lower still. |
| Keywords: | SOCIEDAD DE LA INFORMACION, TECNOLOGIA DE LA INFORMACION, TECNOLOGIA DE LAS COMUNICACIONES, INTERNET, ENCUESTAS, COOPERACION REGIONAL, DESARROLLO REGIONAL, CARICOM, ECONOMIA BASADA EN EL CONOCIMIENTO, ELABORACION DE POLITICAS, ESTRATEGIAS DEL DESARROLLO, EDUCACION, GENERO, ASPECTOS SOCIALES, ASPECTOS ECONOMICOS, PREPARACION PARA CASOS DE DESASTRES, PREVENCION DE DESASTRES, INFORMATION SOCIETY, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, INTERNET, SURVEYS, REGIONAL COOPERATION, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, CARICOM, KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY, POLICY-MAKING, DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES, EDUCATION, GENDER, SOCIAL ASPECTS, ECONOMIC ASPECTS, DISASTER PREPAREDNESS, DISASTER PREVENTION |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col095:40255&r=pay |
| By: | Franke, Günter; Mosk, Thomas; Schnebel, Eberhard |
| Abstract: | Mis-selling by banks has occurred repeatedly in many nations over the last decade. While clients may benefit from competition - enabling them to choose financial services at lowest costs - economic frictions between banks and clients may give rise to mis-selling. Examples of mis-selling are mis-representation of information, overly complex product design and non-customized advice. European regulators address the problem of mis-selling in the "Markets in Financial Instruments Directive" (MiFID) I and II and the "Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation" (MiFIR), by setting behavioral requirements for banks, regulating the compensation of employees, and imposing re-quirements on offered financial products and disclosure rules. This paper argues that MiFID II protects clients but is not as effective as it could be. (1) It does not differentiate between client groups with different levels of financial literacy. Effective advice requires different advice for different client groups. (2) MiFID II uses too many rules and too many instruments to achieve identical goals and thereby generates excessive compliance costs. High compliance costs and low revenues would drive banks out of some segments of retail business. |
| Keywords: | retail banking,mis-selling,MiFID II |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewh:39&r=pay |
| By: | Philippon, Thomas |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the potential impact of FinTech on the finance industry. I document first that financial services remain surprisingly expensive, which explains the emergence of new entrants. I then argue that the current regulatory approach is subject to significant political economy and coordination costs, and therefore unlikely to deliver much structural change. FinTech can improve both financial stability and access to services, but this requires significant changes in the focus of regulations. |
| JEL: | E2 G2 N2 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11409&r=pay |
| By: | Daniel Nepelski (European Commission – JRC); Giuseppe Piroli (European Commission – DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion); Giuditta De Prato (European Commission – JRC) |
| Abstract: | Through the perspective of VC-backed companies, this report describes the main locations of start-up activity in Europe, i.e. start-up hotspots. It aims at providing evidence on start-up activity in Europe and at describing the European VC activity over the last two decades. The study reports the following: • Europe receives 15% of global VC investments. After the dot.com hype, VC activity in Europe decreased and has never come close to the levels from 2000. VC funds have also moved away from seed to later stage of funding. • 28% of all European VC-backed companies are based in one of the 20 cities. Paris, London and Berlin lead the ranking of cities with the highest number of VC-backed companies in Europe. • The location of a start-up is likely to be one of the major factors influencing the amount of money it receives from VC funds and the number of funding rounds it goes through. • Majority of European VC-backed companies are up to 8 years old and have up to 100 employees. • The majority of VC-backed firms in Europe belong to the Business, Consumer and Retail industries. |
| Keywords: | venture capital, start-ups, entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | O3 L26 G24 R51 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc101215&r=pay |
| By: | Mizuno, Takayuki; Ohnishi, Takaaki; Watanabe, Tsutomu |
| Abstract: | The distributions of market capitalization in the NASDAQ and Shanghai stock exchanges from 1990 to 2015 have a fat upper tail that follows a power law function. The power law index, which fluctuates around one depending on the economic conditions, became small during the dot-com and Shanghai bubble periods. By using the regression coefficient of random forests for market capitalization and income statement items, we found that net assets are most reflected in market capitalization for companies listed in NASDAQ. The distribution of the price book-value ratio (PBR), which is defined as market capitalization divided by net assets, also got fat during the bubble periods. These results suggest that speculative money was excessively concentrated on specific stocks during such periods. |
| Keywords: | Power law, Zipf's law, Market capitalization, Asset bubble, Stock market, Econophysics, PACS:G010, PACS:D300 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:remfce:60&r=pay |