--- begin forwarded text Date: Fri, 24 Jan 97 00:04:40 +0100 To: dcsb@ai.mit.edu Subject: Online Spending with Smart Cards and E.Cash to To US$3.5bn by year 2000 Cc: nelson@media.mit.edu.geer@OpenMarket.com From: a9050756@unet.univie.ac.at (Mike Alexander) Sender: bounce-dcsb@ai.mit.edu Precedence: bulk Reply-To: a9050756@unet.univie.ac.at (Mike Alexander)

...

[some Fed reserve guy's] argument for stored value cards is that the business costs of handling cash are so substantial that there is room for merchants to discount purchases when made by a means that does not require that handling cost.

Does anyone know of a source for information on the overhead of accepting various forms of payment? I assume the cost of cash is smaller than credit cards for purchases under, say, $500. Any estimates on smart cards? On pure digital cash (delivered via a browser)?

I'm particularly interested in micropayments, but the larger question is interesting as well.

I've worked on this topic extensively in the past months (writing a doctoral thesis on efficiency and risk in the payment system). I can assure you this: cash in is still and will remain one of the most efficient payment instruments. This holds looking at it from a private as well as social cost perspective with sufficient empirical support. Best Regards, Michael Alexander Doctoral Student at the University of Vienna -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.3i mQCNAzIhxYwAAAEEALtfkL/X6GuZpEECWnmkmbqqtGwNalb94Om82VUiBE8iU1OX 2e5WXQGsq1oManSqVQn3TpVo7VE9pMJr5vITAmkEA6szGRt5zbK5u/dIqhLnJnRE sVpiY61Xw6RvQKoXX7LSqOYSCqvIiY8GJ5gRpiKQNPZVuJRqbLipmU0fPqylAAUR tDFNaWNoYWVsIEYuIEFsZXhhbmRlciA8YTkwNTA3NTZAdW5ldC51bml2aWUuYWMu YXQ+iQCVAwUQMiHFjbipmU0fPqylAQGy4QP+LjB6lZXVYFZDpoVB7j8AGvkghSsr XicZapXPmsFX6xpt+S29EF4DGoDJIDq6VLJMZ2rQ1gFfEvvWzL7ekZ3orhLSpJoO WWRZF1MNZVWBNhzxBcdK2T6yrx4cBwQX7t299Ho0y1Go69VE9e3LN8YInIXoQYp5 bc4M0u16GqmV5eI= =5l49 -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe from the dcsb list, send a letter to: Majordomo@ai.mit.edu In the body of the message, write: unsubscribe dcsb Or, to subscribe, write: subscribe dcsb If you have questions, write to me at Owner-DCSB@ai.mit.edu --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "The cost of anything is the foregone alternative" -- Walter Johnson The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/rah/ FC97: Anguilla, anyone? http://www.ai/fc97/ "If *you* don't go to FC97, *I* don't go to FC97"