Showing papers by "Wilko Bolt published in 2021"
TL;DR: Since the start of the lockdown in the Netherlands the likelihood of debit card usage at the expense of cash has increased by 13 percentage points, and the pandemic has resulted in a shift in payment preferences towards more contactless payments, largest for elderly people.
Abstract: COVID-19 has temporarily changed the relative cost and benefits of different payment methods: cash has become more costly in terms of health risks, ease of use and likelihood of acceptance, whereas debit card usage has become less costly. As a result, consumers have shifted away from cash. For some, this may speed up the adoption of electronic payment methods, resulting in a permanent change in payment behaviour. Others will return to their preferred payment method once the influence of COVID-19 on our health and daily lives has faded away. Based on unique payment diary survey data collected among a representative panel of Dutch consumers, we study the shift in payment behaviour and payment preferences during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the start of the lockdown in the Netherlands the likelihood of debit card usage at the expense of cash has increased by 13 percentage points. About 60 percent of this shift has persisted seven months after the start of the pandemic in the Netherlands and appears to be longlived. Also, the pandemic has resulted in a shift in payment preferences towards more contactless payments. Both effects are largest for elderly people.
18 citations
20 May 2021
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used payment diary survey data to study the shift in payment behavior and payment preferences and found that since the start of the lockdown in the Netherlands the usage of debit card versus cash has increased by 10 percentage points.
Abstract: COVID-19 has affected almost every aspect of our daily lives including the way we pay. The pandemic caused a large drop in the use of cash triggering more contactless payments at the point of sale. The question comes up whether this change in payment usage is temporary or permanent. We use payment diary survey data to study the shift in payment behaviour and payment preferences. Since the start of the lockdown in the Netherlands the usage of debit card versus cash has increased by 10 percentage points. The initial drop in cash usage by 17 percentage points has only partly been reversed. The reversal occurred especially with people aged 65 and above as well as with people with a low-income. Thus the shift appears to be long-lived. Moreover, the pandemic has also resulted in a shift in payment preferences. People who used to prefer electronic payment have shifted to contactless payment. The percentage of people preferring cash only slightly decreased from 21% to 20%.