Acknowledgements The work underlying this study was performed at the
Econometric and Special Studies Department of the Nederlandsche Bank,
where many contributed to it. I am indebted to all the statistical
assistants of the department, especially to Anja Wouters and Rob Vet for
their patient assistance in building up the data sets and analysing the
survey data. Also Corina den Broeder rendered devoted and persistent
research assistance with respect to the multicountry analysis during her
stay at the Bank and I am grateful to Mike Clements of the Bank of
England for his careful reading and commenting on that part. My
collegues Peter van Els and Carlo Winder made some valuable suggestions.
Liesbeth Klein and Coen Collee helped me avoid a number of errors in
English, and thanks to the skilful efforts of Marietta Bakker, Gita
Gajapersad and Carolien Verhoeven the text looks as it does. Above all,
lowe a debt of gratitude to Martin Fase, one of the pioneers in this
field of research, for his efforts and contribution to the improvement
of this study. INTRODUCTION We seem to be well on the way to a cashless
society. Paradoxically, however, the majority of the transactions are
still paid in cash even in the most advanced economies. A second
paradoxical observation is that, despite the primary and common
character of currency, the economic theory on the use of and demand for
cash is only rarely supported by empirical evidence.
