U. S. consumer cash use, 2012 and 2015: an introduction to the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice

Claire Greene, Shaun O'Brien and Scott Schuh

No 17-6, Research Data Report from Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Abstract: U.S. consumer cash payments averaged 26 percent of all U.S. consumer payments by number (volume share) from 2008 to 2015, according to the Survey of Consumer Payment Choice (SCPC), and were essentially unchanged between 2012 and 2015. New estimates from the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice (DCPC) show that the volume share of consumer cash payments is higher than estimated in the SCPC and suggest that the cash volume share was 8 percentage points lower in 2015 than in 2012. The DCPC most likely does not provide an accurate estimate of the actual change in the cash volume share, however, due to changes in survey methodology. Counterfactual simulations controlling for survey and economic changes suggest the cash volume share declined approximately 2 to 5 percentage points due to changes in consumer preferences between 2012 and 2015.

Keywords: payments; consumer behavior; Survey of Consumer Payment Choice; Diary of Consumer Payment Choice; Cash; money (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D14 E42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 64 pages
Date: 2017-10-25
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac and nep-pay
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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