The delivery and payment of bills over the Internet could offer many advantages—low processing costs and enhanced marketing opportunities for billers, savings in time and postage for customers. Nevertheless, electronic billing has not found favor with potential users. A lack of coordination...

With the growing appeal of cross-border trading in Europe, efforts are under way to establish consolidated exchanges that offer trading in stocks from many European countries. An analysis of these evolving pan-European exchanges suggests that consolidation could reduce the costs and...

Recent regulatory and technological changes have spurred the development of automated trading systems known as ECNs, or electronic communications networks. Proponents of the networks contend that ECNs can cut transaction costs, accelerate trade execution, and expand the price information...