The Economic Benefits and Social Risks of a Cashless Society

Authors

  • Wen Ye Affiliated School of Jun for Hongkong & Macao, Guangzhou 511458, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/2mxegf86

Keywords:

Cashless Society, Financial Inclusion, Financial Surveillance

Abstract

This DRP discusses advantages and disadvantages of a cashless society. Cashless systems decline service costs, expand inclusive finance for disadvantage groups, strengthen household resilience and raise GDP by easing business lending. However, digital payments weaken spending restraint, fuel overconsumption and risky household debt. Traceable transaction data also triggers privacy leaks by corporations and governments. It concludes complete cash elimination is undesirable, retaining cash and proper regulation balances overall financial development.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] World Bank Group. (n.d.). Financial inclusion. https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/topic/financial-sector/financial-inclusion#tab-strategy

[2] Suri, T., & Jack, W. (2016). The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money. Science, 354(6317), 1288–1292. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309

[3] Massi, M., Sullivan, G., Strauss, M., & Khan, M. (2019). How cashless payments help economies grow. BCG Global. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/cashless-payments-help-economies-grow

[4] Ghosh, P., Vallee, B., & Zeng, Y. (2021). FinTech lending and cashless payments. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3766250 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3766250

[5] Reshadi, F., & Fitzgerald, M. P. (2023). The pain of payment: A review and research agenda. Psychology & Marketing, 40(8), 1672–1688. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21825 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21825

[6] Sjam, A. A. (2025). Opaque payments, open wallets: The relationship between payment transparency and overspending. Research in Economics, 101045. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rie.2025.101045 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rie.2025.101045

[7] Maesen, S., & Ang, D. (2024). EXPRESS: Buy now pay later: Impact of installment payments on customer purchases. Journal of Marketing, 89(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429241282414 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429241282414

[8] Guttman-Kenney, B., Firth, C., & Gathergood, J. (2023). Buy now, pay later (BNPL) ...On your credit card. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4001909

[9] de Montjoye, Y.-A., Radaelli, L., Singh, V. K., & Pentland, A. (2015). Unique in the shopping mall: On the reidentifiability of credit card metadata. Science, 347(6221), 536–539. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1256297 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1256297

[10] Visa. (2020). Visa advertising solutions: Data-powered advertising can help boost your ad campaign. https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/global/run-your-business/documents/visa-advertising-solutions.pdf

[11] Khera, R. (2026). Data and privacy: Putting markets in (their) place. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics. https://doi.org/10.20529/ijme.2026.014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20529/IJME.2026.014

[12] Barth, S., & de Jong, M. D. T. (2017). The privacy paradox - Investigating discrepancies between expressed privacy concerns and actual online behavior - A systematic literature review. Telematics and Informatics, 34(7), 1038–1058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.04.013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.04.013

[13] CFA Institute. (2024). Could CBDCs destroy privacy? https://www.cfainstitute.org/insights/articles/could-cbdcs-destroy-privacy

Downloads

Published

29-07-2026

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Ye, W. (2026). The Economic Benefits and Social Risks of a Cashless Society. International Journal of World Economic Research, 2(3), 33-36. https://doi.org/10.54097/2mxegf86