Paying with Plastic : The Digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing

by David Evans and Richard Schmalensee

• ISBN13: 9780262550376
• ISBN10: 0262550377
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-10-01
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

Since Diners Club issued its first charge cards in 1950, payment cards -- credit, debit, and charge cards -- have revolutionized how and whenwe pay for goods and services. In Paying with Plastic, David Evans and Richard Schmalensee provide a nontechnical distillation of their years of research on the economic, technological, and institutional forces that have shaped the payment card industry. They show how competition works in an industry that does not neatly fit any of the standard economic models. They describe how the payment card companies such as MasterCard and Visa have developed complex systems for coordinating transactions among their thousands of bank members and millions of cardholders and accepting merchants. Evans and Schmalensee also describe recent developments in the industry and consider its likely evolution.

Author Biography

David Evans is Senior Vice President of National Economics Research Associates, Inc.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Plastic Cards	p. 1
From Seashells to Electrons	p. 25
More Than Money	p. 53
From Gourmets to the Masses	p. 87
From Sardi's to Saks.com	p. 115
It Takes Two to Tango	p. 133
Co-opetition and the Payment Card Ecosystem	p. 159
System Wars	p. 185
Issuer Brawls	p. 213
Backroom Battles	p. 247
The Antitrust Wars	p. 267
On the Brink	p. 297
And They Don't Take Cash	p. 317
Sources and Notes	p. 321
Selected Bibliography	p. 345
Index	p. 353
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