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on Payment Systems and Financial Technology |
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Issue of 2024‒04‒22
sixteen papers chosen by |
| By: | Angelika Welte; Katrina Talavera; Liang Wang; Joy Wu |
| Abstract: | In recent years, the rise in digital payments has spurred a discussion in Canada and other countries about the future of cash at the point of sale. To better understand trends in payment methods accepted by Canadian businesses, including cash acceptance and the impact of innovations such as mobile payments, the Bank of Canada conducts the Merchant Acceptance Survey, a survey of small and medium-sized businesses. We find that 96% of these businesses in Canada accepted cash in 2023. Acceptance of debit and credit cards has increased since 2021 to 89%, and acceptance of digital payments has increased as well. However, the vast majority of merchants (92%) have no plans to go cashless in the future. Therefore, cash and digital payments continue to coexist at the point of sale, and Canada is far from being a cashless society. |
| Keywords: | Bank notes; Digital currencies and fintech; Econometric and statistical methods |
| JEL: | C8 D22 E4 L2 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocadp:24-02&r=pay |
| By: | Martin Peitz |
| Abstract: | This article provides a guide to the world of digital attention intermediaries and concludes with a discussion of several policy issues with a focus on competition policy and consumer protection. It addresses the following questions: How do attention intermediaries operate in the real world? What are economic mechanisms that may contribute to understanding markets with digital attention intermediaries? Recent insights from the economics of platforms and media economics inform the replies to these questions. |
| Keywords: | Attention intermediaries, Two-sided platforms, Advertising, Market power, Digital markets, Limited attention |
| JEL: | L40 L82 L86 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_520&r=pay |
| By: | Juan Carlos Gon\c{c}alves-Dosantos; Ricardo Mart\'inez; Joaqu\'in S\'anchez-Soriano |
| Abstract: | Digital streaming platforms, including Twitch, Spotify, Netflix, Disney, and Kindle, have emerged as one of the main sources of entertainment with significant growth potential. Many of these platforms distribute royalties among streamers, artists, producers, or writers based on their impact. In this paper, we measure the relevance of each of these contributors to the overall success of the platform, which is information that can play a key role in revenue allocation. We perform an axiomatic analysis to provide normative foundations for three relevance metrics: the uniform, the proportional, and the subscriber-proportional indicators. The last two indicators implement the so-called pro-rata and user-centric models, which are extensively applied to distribute revenues in the music streaming market. The axioms we propose formalize different principles of fairness, stability, and non-manipulability, and are tailor-made for the streaming context. We complete our analysis with a case study that measures the influence of the 19 most-followed streamers worldwide on the Twitch platform. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.08421&r=pay |
| By: | Ozili, Peterson K |
| Abstract: | In a world where banked customers are increasingly aware of social and environmental issues, agents of financial inclusion need to adopt sustainable practices to remain relevant. This brings us to the issue of sustainable financial inclusion which is quite different from the mainstream financial inclusion concept. Sustainable financial inclusion is a concept used to describe the integration of sustainability principles into financial inclusion strategies. This paper provides an in-depth discussion of sustainable financial inclusion. Using the discourse analysis method, the paper provides several definitions of sustainable financial inclusion, and show the importance and benefits of sustainable financial inclusion. The paper also highlights the strategies to achieve sustainable financial inclusion and some challenges that may be experienced in the pursuit of sustainable financial inclusion. The implication of sustainable financial inclusion is that there will be increasing demand for agents of financial inclusion to not only seek profits but to also seek the preservation of society and the environment in their efforts to increase financial inclusion in rural and urban areas. The sustainable financial inclusion agenda will give banked adults an opportunity to pressure agents of financial inclusion to be sustainability oriented. This is a privilege that is non-existent in the mainstream financial inclusion agenda. This calls for a shift from the ‘mainstream financial inclusion’ agenda to a ‘sustainable financial inclusion’ agenda. |
| Keywords: | financial inclusion, sustainable financial inclusion, sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable development goals, SDGs |
| JEL: | G21 G28 I31 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120440&r=pay |
| By: | Rossi, Raffaello; Nairn, Agnes |
| Abstract: | Social media marketing is evolving rapidly, with content marketing emerging as a prominent technique. It blurs the lines between content and advertising and aims to foster enduring positive relationships between brand and consumer. For gambling products, approximately 40-50% of social media ads are content marketing. International advertising codes stipulate that advertising must be obviously identifiably as such. To date, however, no one has investigated whether content marketing is identifiable – particularly to children and young adults who are vulnerable to gambling harms. Our online experiment with over 650 participants aged 11-78 investigate whether consumers of all or any age are, indeed, able to recognise content marketing as advertising. The results are striking. Firstly, children and young persons show significantly lower recognition rates for social media ads, compared to adults. Secondly, irrespective of age, content marketing is universally challenging to identify compared to conventional ads. This holds true for both gambling and insurance ads. Levels for gambling content marketing hover around chance levels for children and young persons, while only slightly above for adults. These findings underscore the deficiencies in current advertising regulations. The authors recommend a ban on gambling content marketing. They also recommend the expansions of advertising literacy education in schools and the integration of (gambling) advertising literacy skills into third sector gambling education programmes. These measures would enhance consumer protection in the ever-evolving landscape of social media marketing. |
| Date: | 2024–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:8ybgv&r=pay |
| By: | Flavia Alves |
| Abstract: | How do "Information and Communication Technologies" (ICTs) reshape the banking industry and banking habits? Using panel data containing detailed banking statements for more than 25, 000 public and private bank branches distributed among over 3, 500 municipalities of Brazil, I show that, following the rollout of the 4G mobile network, 6% of private banks exit the municipalities while their branches shrink on average 11% within five years of the introduction of this technology compared to municipalities that do not have it. By contrast, public banks are not reactive to better mobile connectivity. Credit, savings, and deposits also display different patterns in response to better mobile network in public and private banks. Globally, these results suggest that the internet has been deeply reshaping the banking industry and modifying how credit and savings are distributed to the population with different levels of internet access, with important policy implications for both the industry and consumers. |
| Keywords: | ICT, internet, 4G mobile network, banks, credit, savings, financial inclusion, competition |
| JEL: | D14 G21 G40 L10 L86 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:1174&r=pay |
| By: | Ahmed Waqar Qasim (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics); Azwar Muhammad Aslam (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics) |
| Abstract: | The fourth industrial revolution with the remarkable advancement of the internet has transformed production, management, and governance systems (Kathuria et al., 2017). These developments have also disrupted the conventional understanding of the labor market. Since many new job opportunities have been created and many others are destroyed. The dynamics of the labor market in Pakistan are also undergoing similar transformations. The use of technology and digital platforms has provided employment opportunities to a large segment of the labor market. Among the job opportunities created by the expansion of technology, freelancing is one of the leading ones (Kuek et al., 2015), and online freelancing is showing a growing trend in Pakistan, especially among urban youth. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:kbrief:2024:116&r=pay |
| By: | Crowley, M. A.; Han, L.; Son, M. |
| Abstract: | Using administrative transactions data from the United Kingdom, we document a swift decline in sterling use among British exporters after the 2016 Brexit vote. Through a novel decomposition, we document most of this decline comes from two sources: (i) continuously-operating firms switching from sterling to dollars or local currencies and (ii) reductions in transactions for sterling-loyal firms. In contrast, new entrants into exporting primarily invoice in sterling before and after the Brexit vote. Our findings provide the first evidence on the quantitative relevance of new channels that contribute to changes in aggregate invoicing shares amidst political upheaval. |
| Keywords: | Invoicing Currency, Trade Transactions, Sterling, Brexit |
| JEL: | F14 F31 F41 |
| Date: | 2024–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camjip:2407&r=pay |
| By: | Damane, Moeti; Ho, Sin-Yu |
| Abstract: | International policymakers prioritize financial stability and inclusion, but often view them as separate goals, overlooking potential overlap and trade-offs. If synergies and trade-offs between the two concepts are not recognized and understood, policy design may yield less-than-ideal results. This paper provides a systematic review of the theoretical literature on financial inclusion and financial stability as well as empirical research initiatives examining the relationship between the two concepts. We found that current studies do not always present a unified theoretical approach or conceptual framework to explain the channels of the relationship between financial inclusion and stability. Empirical studies to date offer divergent views on the financial inclusion and stability nexus, a dispensation that may be due to country specificities, the multi-faceted nature of financial inclusion and stability or the seldom uniform use of proxies to capture these concepts in the literature. Not only are some studies inconclusive, but some also suggest that financial inclusion has a positive and significant impact on financial stability, as explained by the institutional theory. While other studies, supported by the aggressive credit expansion theory, reveal that financial inclusion can have a negative influence on financial stability. Through this comprehensive review, we intend to improve awareness and cohesion among scholars and policy makers of financial inclusion and financial stability while also facilitating the development of solid foundations to address future research and policy making challenges. |
| Keywords: | Financial inclusion; Financial stability; Financial regulation, Literature review |
| JEL: | G0 G20 G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2024–03–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120369&r=pay |
| By: | Kfir Eliaz; Ran Spiegler |
| Abstract: | We present a model of news media that shape consumer beliefs by providing information (signals about an exogenous state) and narratives (models of what determines outcomes). To amplify consumers' engagement, media maximize consumers' anticipatory utility. Focusing on a class of separable consumer preferences, we show that a monopolistic media platform facing homogenous consumers provides a false "empowering" narrative coupled with an optimistically biased signal. Consumer heterogeneity gives rise to a novel menu-design problem due to a "data externality" among consumers. The optimal menu features multiple narratives and creates polarized beliefs. These effects also arise in a competitive media market model. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.09155&r=pay |
| By: | Austin Adams |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the market structure impact of cheaper and faster chains on the Uniswap v3 Protocol. The Uniswap Protocol is the largest decentralized application on Ethereum by both gas and blockspace used, and user behaviors of the protocol are very sensitive to fluctuations in gas prices and market structure due to the economic factors of the Protocol. We focus on the chains where Uniswap v3 has the most activity, giving us the best comparison to Ethereum mainnet. Because of cheaper gas and lower block times, we find evidence that the majority of swaps get better gas-adjusted execution on these chains, liquidity providers are more capital efficient, and liquidity providers have increased fee returns from more arbitrage. We also present evidence that two second block times may be too long for optimal liquidity provider returns, compared to first come, first served. We argue that many of the current drawbacks with AMMs may be due to chain dynamics and are vastly improved with cheaper and faster transactions |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.09494&r=pay |
| By: | Siebenbrunner, Christoph; Taudes, Alfred |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus051:61492165&r=pay |
| By: | Shaojie Li; Xinqi Dong; Danqing Ma; Bo Dang; Hengyi Zang; Yulu Gong |
| Abstract: | Mobile Internet user credit assessment is an important way for communication operators to establish decisions and formulate measures, and it is also a guarantee for operators to obtain expected benefits. However, credit evaluation methods have long been monopolized by financial industries such as banks and credit. As supporters and providers of platform network technology and network resources, communication operators are also builders and maintainers of communication networks. Internet data improves the user's credit evaluation strategy. This paper uses the massive data provided by communication operators to carry out research on the operator's user credit evaluation model based on the fusion LightGBM algorithm. First, for the massive data related to user evaluation provided by operators, key features are extracted by data preprocessing and feature engineering methods, and a multi-dimensional feature set with statistical significance is constructed; then, linear regression, decision tree, LightGBM, and other machine learning algorithms build multiple basic models to find the best basic model; finally, integrates Averaging, Voting, Blending, Stacking and other integrated algorithms to refine multiple fusion models, and finally establish the most suitable fusion model for operator user evaluation. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.14483&r=pay |
| By: | Aguirre, Ezequiel |
| Abstract: | Varias tecnologías emergentes 4.0 están hoy al alcance de las pequeñas y medianas empresas (pymes) para facilitar su participación en el comercio internacional tradicional y electrónico. En este documento, se revisa, en primer lugar, la forma en que dichas tecnologías —la inteligencia artificial, los macrodatos (big data), la tecnología de cadenas de bloques (blockchain), la robótica, la impresión 3D, la realidad aumentada, la computación en la nube, el marketing digital y la ciberseguridad, entre otras— apoyan el comercio internacional tradicional y electrónico. En segundo lugar, se examina la adopción de dichas tecnologías innovadoras en los Estados Unidos, Europa y la región por parte de las empresas, en general, y las pymes, en particular. Es importante que las pymes conozcan dichas tecnologías y sus beneficios para mejorar sus procesos y disminuir sus costos, a fin de llevar sus productos y servicios a mercados internacionales. Con este propósito, se presentan varios programas y mecanismos de asistencia y financiamiento de tecnologías innovadoras para pymes disponibles en distintos países de la región. |
| Date: | 2024–02–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col022:68968&r=pay |
| By: | Susan M. Collins |
| Abstract: | Susan Collins offered welcoming remarks for the virtual gathering that brought together researchers, regulators, and industry practitioners to discuss the potential impact of stablecoins on the broader financial system. |
| Keywords: | stablecoins; payments; financial stability |
| Date: | 2024–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbsp:98039&r=pay |
| By: | Garimella, Kiran; Chauchard, Simon |
| Abstract: | In recent years, reports and anecdotal evidence pointing at the role of WhatsApp in a variety of events, ranging from elections to collective violence, have emerged (Arun, 2019). While academic research should examine the validity of these claims, obtaining WhatsApp data for research is notably challenging, contrasting with the relative abundance of data from platforms like Facebook and Twitter, where user “information diets" have been extensively studied (Barberá et al., 2015; Guess, Nagler and Tucker, 2019). This lack of data is particularly problematic since misinformation and hate speech are major concerns in the set of Global South countries in which WhatsApp dominates the market for messaging (Tucker et al., 2018). To help make research on these questions, and more generally research on WhatsApp, possible, this paper introduces WhatsApp Explorer, a tool designed to enable WhatsApp data collection on a large scale. We discuss protocols for data collection, including potential sampling approaches, and explain why our tool (and adjoining protocol) arguably allow researchers to collect WhatsApp data in an ethical and legal manner, at scale. |
| Date: | 2024–03–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:k6qv5&r=pay |