Despite the well-known difficulties to measure national euro circulations within the euro area, several methods have been used to estimate the national demand for euro banknotes in France, such as key-based calculations (ECB capital), approaches using average return time of banknotes or...

The Netherlands and the Nordic countries are faced with a rapid decline in the use of cash. Sooner or later, they will be confronted with the question whether cash remains necessary as well-functioning means of payment for POS transactions. This paper focuses on how this issue is addressed in...

This paper has four goals: First, the use of cash as a possible driving factor of the shadow economy is investigated. Second, the use of cash in crime, here especially in corruption, is also econometrically investigated. The influence is somewhat larger than on the shadow economy, but it is...

This study investigates the benefits of cash in a general context. First, we explicitly address the arguments of cash critics, who are calling for cash to be abolished altogether. Second, we show that cash plays a crucial role in the current two-tier banking system. Third, we are discussing a...

It would seem that physical currency should be fading out as the world of payments is increasingly electronic, with new technologies emerging at a rapid pace, and as governments look to restrictions on large-denomination notes as a way to reduce crime and tax evasion. Nonetheless, demand for...

At the end of 2015, the Deutsche Bundesbank had issued a total net amount of just over €45 billion in €20 banknotes. In statistical terms, each resident living in Germany was therefore issued with around 30 banknotes of this denomination. Up until now, it was not clear how many of these...

We study the demand for Swiss banknotes over the period from 1956 to 2015 and present stylized facts on different banknote denominations since the inception of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in 1907. Employing the so-called seasonal method, we focus on the demand for banknotes used as a store of...

Central banks need to forecast banknote demand. It determines the number of notes they need printed and the future distribution network required. Yet forecasting demand is an inherently complex problem - banknotes are anonymous bearer instruments and so many of the sources of demand are...

Contrary to predictions that demand for cash will decline with the increased availability and use of non-cash payment means, currency demand has increased in the Euro area and the US over the past 15 years. Against this background, this short article summarizes recent findings from Jobst and...