|
on Payment Systems and Financial Technology |
|
Issue of 2022‒04‒25
eighteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Tut, Daniel |
| Abstract: | Is Bitcoin the payment system of the future? In these notes, we argue that Bitcoin is neither currency nor gold, but that it is a tradable asset and an alternative form of investments. Bitcoin also exhibits some features as an investment asset that are similar to collectibles. The true value of Bitcoin lies not in its speculative nature but in the embedded technology which has the long term potential of revolutionizing traditional nance. Blockchain technology can provide solutions to Big Data challenges and provide an o -ramp during political uncertainty. Bitcoin's long-term survivability and viability as an asset will largely depend on its diversification role, institutional adoption, tax treatment and regulations. |
| Keywords: | Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain technology, smart contracts, digital assets, NFTs, Payment Systems, Money |
| JEL: | D8 D84 E4 G0 G02 G1 G17 G18 K22 M21 O3 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2022–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112376&r= |
| By: | Ghori, Muhammad Ashhad; Imran, Syed Monis; Pervaiz, Javeria; Aiman, Umm e Aiman |
| Abstract: | In recent years, usage of the internet in a developing economy like Pakistan rose exponentially which also enable users to use social media and eventually buy and order anything online. The trend of marketing changed all over the country as renowned brands and businesses started to shift their respective platforms. Some faced difficulties in that while others reached new heights of accomplishments. The online market is quite different from the conventional physical market and retailer’s sales generally depend upon the buyer’s mood, attitude, and behaviors which comprises trust, purchase intent, and motivational factors. Retailers must be aware of the ongoing trends and know-how and when to post what. For the purpose of the study, the data was collected from 265 respondents and Partial Least Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used for the analysis. The results showed that motivational factors i.e. Social, Empowerment, and Remuneration have a significant relationship with Trust and Online Purchasing Intent. From the results, several implications can be derived for marketers, policymakers, and online retailer. |
| Keywords: | Social Media, Trust, Empowerment Motivation, Online Purchase Intent, Social Motivation, Developing Economy |
| JEL: | A14 M1 M3 M31 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112290&r= |
| By: | Vidal-Tomás, David |
| Abstract: | The combination of blockchain technologies and the gaming industry has given rise to metaverses and play-to-earn games, which incorporate their own economy, commerce, and currencies, namely, metaverse and play-to-earn tokens. In this paper, we analysed the performance and dynamics of 174 tokens, the results of which show that this new crypto niche is characterised by a positive performance in the long run and the absence of dependences on the cryptocurrency market, which could attract more gamers, traders, and companies. However, all these groups should be cautious due to the possible onset of a new crypto bubble. |
| Keywords: | Metaverse , Play-to-earn , NFT , Cryptocurrency , Gaming industry , Diversification |
| JEL: | G10 |
| Date: | 2022–01–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112361&r= |
| By: | Natkamon Tovanich (IRT SystemX - IRT SystemX, CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - X - École polytechnique - ENSAE Paris - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, GRACE - Geometry, arithmetic, algorithms, codes and encryption - Inria Saclay - Ile de France - Inria - Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique - LIX - Laboratoire d'informatique de l'École polytechnique [Palaiseau] - X - École polytechnique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Nicolas Soulié (DEFI - Département Droit, Economie et Finances - TEM - Télécom Ecole de Management - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IMT-BS - Institut Mines-Télécom Business School - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris], LITEM - Laboratoire en Innovation, Technologies, Economie et Management (EA 7363) - UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne - Université Paris-Saclay - IMT-BS - Institut Mines-Télécom Business School - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris]); Nicolas Heulot (IRT SystemX - IRT SystemX); Petra Isenberg (AVIZ - Analysis and Visualization - Inria Saclay - Ile de France - Inria - Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique - LISN - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Sciences du Numérique - CentraleSupélec - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - IaH - Interaction avec l'Humain - LISN - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Sciences du Numérique - CentraleSupélec - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | We analyzed 23 mining pools and explore the mobility of miners throughout Bitcoin's history. Mining pools have emerged as major players to ensure that the Bitcoin system stays secure, valid, and stable. Many questions remain open regarding how mining pools have evolved throughout Bitcoin's history and when and why miners join or leave the pools. We investigated the reward payout flow of mining pools and characterized them based on payout irregularity and structural complexity. Based on our proposed algorithm, we identified miners and studied their mobility in the pools over time. Our analysis shows that Bitcoin mining is an industry that is sensitive to external events (e.g., market price and government policy). Over time, competition between pools involving reward schemes and pool fees motivated miners to migrate between pools (i.e., pool hopping and cross pooling). These factors converged toward optimal scheme and values, which made mining activities more stable. |
| Keywords: | Visual analytics,Pool hopping,Mining pools,Bitcoin mining,Bitcoin |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03610424&r= |
| By: | Hossain, Monzur (Asian Development Bank Institute); Chowdhury, Tahreen Tahrima (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | We assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and the role of fintech, in particular, mobile financial services (MFS), in their recovery from COVID-induced losses. We use data from a survey of 216 MSMEs from Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation industrial estates in Bangladesh during January to March 2021. Our results suggest that firms have been recovering gradually after the withdrawal from lockdown in June 2020. So far, 80% of production of the firms compared with pre-COVID levels had recovered by the end of December 2020. We use instrumental variable regression to assess the impact of the use of MFS on firms’ production, sales, and profit for three periods: lockdown (March–May 2020), limited lockdown (June–September 2020) and the reopening period (October–December 2020). We find significant and positive impact from the use of MFS on the production, sales, and profit of firms during this pandemic. The results indicate that the use of digital finance facilitates firms’ production through ensuring a stable supply of raw materials and sales that have prompted them to recover faster. However, the concern is that only about 31% of our sample firms use MFS for their businesses and an even lower proportion of firms are accustomed to using an online platform. Therefore, more incentives and supportive policies are needed to motivate MSMEs to use digital finance and online platforms to stay active in operations, particularly during the pandemic. |
| Keywords: | fintech; MSMEs; Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation Estates; BSCIC; COVID-19; firm recovery; Bangladesh |
| JEL: | D20 D22 G10 G20 |
| Date: | 2022–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:1305&r= |
| By: | Marco Di Maggio; Dimuthu Ratnadiwakara; Don Carmichael |
| Abstract: | We exploit anonymized administrative data provided by a major fintech platform to investigate whether using alternative data to assess borrowers' creditworthiness results in broader credit access. Comparing actual outcomes of the fintech platform’s model to counterfactual outcomes based on a “traditional model” used for regulatory reporting purposes, we find that the latter would result in a 70% higher probability of being rejected and higher interest rates for those approved. The borrowers most positively affected are the “invisible primes”--borrowers with low credit scores and short credit histories, but also a low propensity to default. We show that funding loans to these borrowers leads to better economic outcomes for the borrowers and higher returns for the fintech platform. |
| JEL: | G23 G5 G51 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29840&r= |
| By: | Mai, Nhat Chi |
| Abstract: | Technological products such as computer, communication, and consumer electronic products, apps, smart wearables, and streaming services have become inseparable from people’s lives. In technological fields of practice, imagination, creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship may influence one another. A vivid imagination can generate creativity and trigger the entrepreneurial intention to “bring new things to the market.” This study aims to understand the formation of internet entrepreneurial intention to use technology products. |
| Date: | 2022–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:hr4sm&r= |
| By: | Xiaoqing Zhou |
| Abstract: | One of the main channels through which monetary policy stimulus affects the real economy is mortgage borrowing. This channel, however, is weakened by frictions in the mortgage market. The rapid growth of financial technology-based (FinTech) lending tends to ease these frictions, given the higher quality services provided under this new lending model. This paper establishes that the role of FinTech lending in the monetary policy transmission is further amplified by consumers’ social networks. I provide empirical evidence for this network effect using county-level data and novel identification strategies. A 1 pp increase in the FinTech market share in a county’s socially connected markets raises the county’s FinTech market share by 0.23-0.26 pps. Moreover, I find that in counties where FinTech market penetration is high, the pass-through of market interest rates to borrowers is more complete. To quantify the role of FinTech lending and its network propagation in the transmission of monetary policy shocks, I build a multi-region heterogeneous-agent model with social learning that embodies key features of FinTech lending. The model shows that the responses of consumption and refinancing to a monetary stimulus are 13% higher in the presence of FinTech lending. Almost half of this improvement is accounted for by FinTech propagation through social networks. |
| Keywords: | FinTech; social networks; mortgage; monetary policy; regional transmission |
| JEL: | E21 E44 E52 G21 G23 |
| Date: | 2022–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddwp:93889&r= |
| By: | Zia, Syeda Hamna; Muneer, Naima; Siddiqui, Amna; Huda, Rozmeen |
| Abstract: | Every day every traditional business is shifting online, following the Digital marketing trend to grow their business. The primary aim of the research is to investigate those factors that will help the business grow in the online market in a developing nations. For this purpose, SOR Model is used. In this research, two dependent variables are brand experience and customer-based brand equity and independent variables are Informativeness, Trendiness, Personalization, and Word of mouth. In this research, quantitative method is used to investigate concepts to find relationships. Between variables and forecast results. The correlation research approach is used in this research. A survey was conducted with internet users via questionnaire (n=205). For data analysis, SPSS and smart PLS-SEM is used in this research. According to the findings of the study, Informativeness, Personalization, Consumer Based- equity and Word of mouth impacts significantly on Brand Experience, while Trendiness impacts insignificantly on Brand Experience. We recommend taking quizzes during or at the end of the session would be very helpful. |
| Keywords: | Word of mouth, trendiness, brand experience, online shopping, social media activities; developing country. |
| JEL: | I2 M1 M3 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112346&r= |
| By: | Ghaznavi, Saeeda Naz; Ali, Syed Yousuf; Mahmood Khan, Neha; Fatima, Mahrukh; Shakoor, Iqra |
| Abstract: | False news is not new but it is becoming more common, it has become a serious issue as a result of social media's expansion, which has permitted individuals to engage and share thoughts. The primary aim of the research is to investigate those factors that influence fake news sharing on social media in an emerging economy. It is necessary to target emerging economy as fake news create a massive panic in such challenging economies that ultimately affect various sectors. For this purpose, Uses and Gratification theory (U&G) is used. In this research, the independent variable is False information and dependent variables are Altruism, Information sharing, Socialization, Entertainment and Pass time. In this research, quantitative method is used to investigate concepts to find relationships between variables and forecast results. In this research, the correlation research approach is used. A survey was conducted with local students via questionnaire (n=150). For data analysis, SPSS and smart PLS-SEM is used in this research. According to the findings of the study, altruism is the foremost imperative indicator of fake news distribution among Pakistanis. We have come to the conclusion that Altruism, Entertainment and Pass the Time foresee the spread of bogus news positively while Sharing of Information and Socialization impacts negatively. We recommend that online platforms users must verify the veracity of the information they have encounter and then post on social media websites. |
| Keywords: | Fake News Sharing, COVID-19, Social media users, Pakistan |
| JEL: | I23 M3 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112302&r= |
| By: | Jacques Fontanel (CESICE - Centre d'études sur la sécurité internationale et les coopérations européennes - UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France - Grenoble 2 - IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble) |
| Abstract: | The development of the digital economy allows many malicious actions such as sabotage of programs, espionage, phishing, data theft, identity theft, loss of trust in a public or private service and the famous ransomware. Cryptocurrencies are welcome to operate in this criminal environment. They are also welcomed by financial criminals looking for tax evasion. Service providers on the Dark Net provide criminal groups with the necessary infrastructure. Ransomware actions are very costly to society and governments are starting to intervene in order to limit the negative effects on the confidence of economic and financial agents of legal operations. The Chinese government has banned the use of bitcoin and the question is being asked in the European Union. |
| Abstract: | Le développement de l'économie digitale permet de nombreuses actions malveillantes comme le sabotage des programmes, l'espionnage, le phisting (hameçonnage), le vol de données, l'usurpation d'identité, la perte de confiance dans un service public ou privé et les fameux rançongiciels. Les cryptomonnaies sont les bienvenues pour opérer dans ce milieu criminel. Ils sont aussi bien accueillis par les délinquants financiers chercheurs d'évasion fiscale. Les fournisseurs de services sur le Dark Net mettent à disposition des groupes criminels les infrastructures nécessaires. Les actions de rançongiciels coûtent très cher à la société et les Etats commencent à intervenir afin de limiter les effets néfastes sur la confiance des agents économiques et financiers d'opérations légales. Le gouvernement chinois a interdit l'utilisation du bitcoin et la question est posée pour l'Union européenne. |
| Date: | 2022–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03597481&r= |
| By: | Gomes, Renato; Mantovani, Andrea |
| Abstract: | Online intermediaries greatly expand consumer information, but also raise sellers’ marginal costs by charging high commissions. To prevent disintermediation, some platforms adopted price parity and anti-steering provisions, which restrict sellers’ ability to use alternative sales channels. Whether to uphold, reform, or ban these provisions has been at the center of the policy debate, but, so far, little consensus has emerged. As an alternative, this paper studies how to cap platforms’ commissions. The utilitarian cap reflects the Pigouvian precept according to which the platform should charge net fees no greater than the informational externality it exerts on other market participants. |
| Keywords: | platforms, price parity; regulation; commission caps; extreme value theory |
| JEL: | D83 L10 L41 |
| Date: | 2022–03–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:126835&r= |
| By: | Ysé Commandré (MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School - UM - Université de Montpellier); Catherine Macombe (UMR ITAP - Information – Technologies – Analyse Environnementale – Procédés Agricoles - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro); Sophie Mignon (MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School - UM - Université de Montpellier, Institut Universitaire de Technologie de Nîmes) |
| Abstract: | In agro-food, Blockchain has been recently implemented in order to improve transparency. Blockchain raises great expectations of data decentralization and better efficiency-cost ratio, integration speed, and data protection that appear as promises of gains in all areas. The fundamental assumption was that transparency prevents or reduces illegitimate forms of power. However, discussions are emerging about how digitization is likely to exacerbate power inequalities in food systems, as transparency can become tyrannical when it contributes to the proliferation of audits, evaluations, and assessment measures. The objective of this research is to contribute by providing knowledge about the implications of this digitization for farmers. For a first exploratory study, we conducted 53 interviews with actors of digitalization of agri-food, and we used 9 press releases, 3 webinars, and 1 article published in a specialized French journal. These materials evoke 12 different agro-food chains recently equipped with blockchain in France. From this pool of chains, we focused on four through in-depth analysis of interviews and literature readings using NVivo software. The first results highlight that the use of blockchain for transparency rarely delivers on its promises. Blockchain tends to centralize control since few actors have access to the distributed ledger, and the visibility brought to farmers, at the consumer level, tends to become a form of control. While blockchain seems to provide some benefits to producers, it raises the issue of overloaded technology and the problem of their data privacy. |
| Keywords: | blockchain,food chain,transparency,panopticon,food governance,food discourse,farms,farmers |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03351947&r= |
| By: | Gilchrist, Kate; Maier, George |
| Abstract: | Scholarship on AirBnB has often brought critical focus to the advancement of rentier capitalism and gentrification through the sharing economy. In this article we draw upon in-depth interviews with women in London who host their shared living space on AirBnB, to present meaningful empirical examples of women utilizing the platform as a way of surviving. Often, women in our research turned to AirBnB after facing exclusion from traditional labor markets, based on gender, age and/or disability. Others relied on AirBnB to meet their own housing needs, for instance: subletting their own bed to meet rent payments. Rather than departing from a critical class analysis, we instead hope to nuance understandings of rentierism on AirBnB by focusing on these women as complex intersectional subjects of capitalism. While many hosts fall clearly into the category of rentier capitalists, making money through property ownership, the lived realities of hosting were often more complex. We therefore use these women's lived experiences to complicate understandings of class subjectivity in the “sharing economy”, drawing upon an intersectional perspective to showcase women who are hosting in order to subsist. |
| Keywords: | class; disability; gender; platform economy; sharing economy; Wiley deal |
| JEL: | R14 J01 J1 |
| Date: | 2022–02–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113677&r= |
| By: | Leogrande, Angelo; Magaletti, Nicola; Cosoli, Gabriele; Massaro, Alessandro |
| Abstract: | In this article the value of “Fixed Broadband Take Up” in Europe is investigated. Data are collected from the DESI-Digital Economy and Society Index for 28 countries in the period 2016-2021. Data are analyzed with Panel Data with Fixed Effects and Random Effects. The Fixed Broadband Take-Up value is positively associated with the value of "Connectivity", "Human Capital", "Desi Index", "Fast BB NGA Coverage", "Fixed Very High-Capacity Network VHCN coverage". Fixed Broadband Take-Up value is negatively associated with "Digital Public Services for Businesses", "e-Government", "At least Basic Digital Skills", "At Least Basic Software Skills", "Above Basic Digital Skills", "Advanced Skills and Development", "Integration of Digital Technology", "Broadband Price Index", "Mobile Broadband", "Fixed Broadband Coverage". Subsequently the k-Means algorithm optimized by the Silhouette coefficient was used to identify the number of clusters. The analysis shows the presence of the two clusters. Eight different machine learning algorithms were then used to predict the future value of the "Fixed Broadband Take-Up in Europe". The analysis shows that the most efficient algorithm for the prediction is "ANN-Artificial Neural Network" with an estimated value of the prediction equal to 26.39%. |
| Keywords: | nnovation, and Invention: Processes and Incentives; Management of Technological Innovation and R&D; Diffusion Processes; Open Innovation. |
| JEL: | O3 O30 O31 O32 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2022–03–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112246&r= |
| By: | Ali, Syed Raza; Ali, Syed Hassan; Yasir, Muhammad; Khan, Muhammed Hamza |
| Abstract: | With the passage of time people come to know that, investigating the brand social media, the brand familiarity and information quality on the future purchase intention is very impactful. In spite of appreciation of brand familiarity and information, quality prominence in brand communities, dynamics and consequences remains limited. To explore this subject of consumer purchase intention we found that information quality and brand familiarity effect the future purchase. To explore our hypotheses, we directed a survey with about 200 university students with the target population of Karachi Pakistan using Facebook with considerable experience with a particular brand. In this research, the statistical technique we use is the structural equation Modeling SEM. This technique helps to determine the structural relation found between latent constructs and measured variables. Furthermore, the findings show that there is a big impact of Brand familiarity and Information quality on Attitude towards brand social media pages and Future purchase intention. |
| Keywords: | Brand familiarity, Information quality, Attitude towards brand social media pages, purchase intention, developing economy |
| JEL: | M10 M31 M37 M38 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:112325&r= |
| By: | Wilcox, Annika (North Carolina State University); Damarin, Amanda K.; McDonald, Steve (North Carolina State University) |
| Abstract: | Cybervetting is the widespread practice of employers culling information from social media and/or other internet sources to screen and select job candidates. Research evaluating online screening is still in its infancy; that which exists often assumes that it offers value and utility to employers as long as they can avoid discrimination claims. Given the increasing prevalence of cybervetting, it is extremely important to probe its challenges and limitations. We seek to initiate a discussion about the negative consequences of online screening and how they can be overcome. We draw on previous literature and our own data to assess the implications of cybervetting for three key stakeholders: job candidates, hiring agents, and organizations. We also discuss future actions these stakeholders can take to manage and ameliorate harmful outcomes of cybervetting. We argue that it is the responsibility of the organizations engaged in cybervetting to identify specific goals, develop formal policies and practices, and continuously evaluate outcomes so that negative societal consequences are minimized. Should they fail to do so, professional and industry associations as well as government can and should hold them accountable. |
| Date: | 2022–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:f52a7&r= |
| By: | Joël Cariolle (FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International); Florian Léon (FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International) |
| Abstract: | Since 2020, the stringent distancing measures put in place around the world in response to the spread of the COVID virus have highlighted the vital importance of digital technologies for maintaining economic exchanges and social interactions. As a result, increased digitalization may have softened the deleterious impact of containment measures on economic activity and human capital in both developed and developing countries (Guillaumont, 2020; Ma et al, 2021, Chiou and Tucker, 2020). By reducing transaction costs and informational asymmetries (Aker, 2017; Goldfarb and Tucker, 2019), digital technologies are expected to boost firms' organizational and production capacities, to improve goods, services and financial markets functioning, to correct government failures, and therefore, to help them coping with the COVID crisis. |
| Date: | 2022–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03606071&r= |