The growth of electronic commerce is dependent upon the emergence of effective electronic payment systems. Whilst payments for large purchases can be made relatively easily using credit/debit cards, small-scale electronic commerce is constrained by the limited nature of existing e-cash (or ‘micropayments’) systems. This paper outlines the evolution of electronic payment systems, leading to an analysis of the essential characteristics of e-cash, and microeconomic / macroeconomic implications of the development of e-cash. Finally, the key characteristics of successful electronic payment innovations are analysed using binary dependent variable estimation techniques on data derived from the Electronic Payments Systems Observatory (ePSO) database.

Levy Institute scholars and conference participants. The purpose of the series is to disseminate ideas to and elicit comments from academics and professionals. The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, founded in 1986, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independently funded research organization devoted to public service. Through scholarship and economic research it generates viable, effective public policy responses to important economic problems that profoundly affect the quality of life in the United States and abroad.

Levy Institute scholars and conference participants. The purpose of the series is to disseminate ideas to and elicit comments from academics and professionals. The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, founded in 1986, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independently funded research organization devoted to public service. Through scholarship and economic research it generates viable, effective public policy responses to important economic problems that profoundly affect the quality of life in the United States and abroad.

Levy Institute scholars and conference participants. The purpose of the series is to disseminate ideas to and elicit comments from academics and professionals. The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, founded in 1986, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independently funded research organization devoted to public service. Through scholarship and economic research it generates viable, effective public policy responses to important economic problems that profoundly affect the quality of life in the United States and abroad.

Levy Institute scholars and conference participants. The purpose of the series is to disseminate ideas to and elicit comments from academics and professionals. The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, founded in 1986, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independently funded research organization devoted to public service. Through scholarship and economic research it generates viable, effective public policy responses to important economic problems that profoundly affect the quality of life in the United States and abroad.

“A requirement that certain taxes should be paid in particular paper money might give that paper a certain value even if it was irredeemable. ” (Edwin Cannan, Marginal Summary to page 3 12 of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, in Smith 1937: 3 12) “[T]he money of a State is not what is of compulsory general acceptance, but what is accepted at the public pay offices... ” (Knapp 1924: vii) “Money is the creation of the state; it is not true to say that gold is international currency, for international contracts are never made in terms of gold, but always in terms of some national monetary unit; there is no important distinction between notes and metallic money.... ” Keynes (Keynes 1983: 402) “In an economy where government debt is a major asset on the books of the depositissuing banks, the fact that taxes need to be paid gives value to the money of the economy. The virtue of a balanced budget and a surplus insofar as the commodity value (purchasing power) of money is concerned is that the need to pay taxes means that people work and produce in order to get that in which taxes can be paid. ” (Minsky 1986: 23 1) *****k*************X*********************~***********~******

Levy Institute scholars and conference participants. The purpose of the series is to disseminate ideas to and elicit comments from academics and professionals. The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, founded in 1986, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independently funded research organization devoted to public service. Through scholarship and economic research it generates viable, effective public policy responses to important economic problems that profoundly affect the quality of life in the United States and abroad.

“Money is Neutral ” and “Money Matters ” are two commonly used phrases characterizing the essential difference between the orthodox and non-orthodox approaches to money. The story of money – its origin, nature, and functions – is among the most misrepresented stories in economics. Hence, a wide range of issues relating to money, from inflation to interest rates, from fiscal policy to the multiplier, need revisiting and reinterpretation. Understanding money is perhaps the most crucial task in understanding modern economies. I begin with the standard orthodox story of money as represented by the Monetarist and Austrian traditions. I later compare it with the non-orthodox views of money as described in the Horizontalist, Chartalist, and State Theory of Money approaches. The differences in these schools of thought emerge at the outset. As the orthodox theory would have it, markets evolved first, long before money came into being. In contrast, as I will discuss later, the non-orthodox approach holds that markets did not exist before money. In the orthodox story, markets formed as a result of people’s natural disposition for exchange. The transactions that took place were based on barter. Over

© Software: 1987-1996, Acrobat is a trademark of ADOBE. All rights reserved. OECD grants you the right to use one copy of this Program for your personal use only. Unauthorised reproduction, lending, hiring, transmission or distribution of any data or software is prohibited. You must treat the Program and associated materials and any elements thereof like any other copyrighted material. All requests should be made to: Head of Publications Service,

‘Look after Employment, and the Budget will look after itself.’