Costs of Cash and Card Payments from a Consumer Perspective

This is the title of a recently published study that is the third and final module in a series of studies in Germany looking at the ‘Costs and Benefits of Cash and Cashless Payment Instruments’ ¹.

The first module addressed the overall economic costs of payment methods (Krüger and Seitz, 2014). The second looked at their benefits (Krüger and Seitz, 2017). In the new study, the authors (Knümann, Krüger and Seitz) look not just to traditional costs such as fees and time costs but also try to account for fraud and costs in the form of data disclosure.

In addition, different willingness to pay is estimated.

Understanding the true cost of payments is important in the context that central banks usually develop payment transaction strategies to identify ways of increasing efficiency in payment transactions.