This paper analyses cash and cashless payment instruments in Germany. After a description of developments in a national and international context, we will compile a critical overview of iterature on cost calculations and on the importance of payments media for different countries.

In a study prepared together with Professor Friedrich Schneider of the Johannes Kepler University Linz, illegal demand for cash in Germany is investigated. The study presents an overview of economic research on the use of cash in the shadow economy as well as fresh empirical analyses by the authors. They look at the influence of the shadow economy on cash lodgements at Bundesbank branches and the demand for banknotes in Germany.