On the War on Cash and its Spoils

Abstract

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 debit cards and electronic purses. As for the most effective way of bringing about such a switch, evidence is presented according to which the introduction of cost-based pricing of payment instruments would have a bigger impact than simply raising the number of EFTPOS terminals.