PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS, INSTRUMENTS, AND SYSTEMS - A SURVEY

The payments literature ranges from theoretical general equilibrium mo dels to practical payment issues related to the day-to-day operation o f various national networks for the transfer of money. It is an area w here economic theory and institutional structure are often closely int ertwined and it is currently undergoing significant change, shifting f rom costly paper-based systems to technologically advanced electronic payments. The extant literature is surveyed here with the aim of integ rating the various strands of payment research which have been largely pursued separately. In addition, we present newly available data to i llustrate and investigate a number of underdeveloped areas in this lit erature. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.