The conference volume comprises a wide variety of cash related research papers, which were presented and discussed at the International Cash Conference 2019.

Estimates by the Bundesbank suggest that banknotes worth around €268 billion were in circulation in Germany in 2018. Of that amount, roughly 20% was used directly for transactions. The other, far larger share – somewhere in the region of €200 billion – was being hoarded, i.e. stored for an extended period of time by households and firms.

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.

How much does a cash payment cost? How long does it take? What costs arise at which points? And how do cash payments compare with cashless payments in terms of costs? Answers to these and other questions are provided by this study on the costs of cash payments in the retail sector, contributing to the debate on the efficiency of payments at the point of sale (POS).

Am 14. Februar 2018 folgten hochrangige Vertreter aus Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft und Wissenschaft der Einladung zum vierten Bargeldsymposium in Frankfurt am Main, um über das Thema Bargeld zu diskutieren. Das Bargeldsymposium der Deutschen Bundesbank findet als Forum für professionelle Bargeldakteure alle zwei Jahre statt.

This conference once again brought together central bankers and the academic community of cash researchers. It covered a wide range of current topics with renowned experts discussing interesting aspects.

The information contained in the study is of interest to all market participants affected by the payment behaviour of private individuals, most notably retailers, credit institutions, card issuers and, last but not least, the Deutsche Bundesbank itself. Players wishing to foster more innovation in the field of payments need to offer a genuine advantage over established schemes and procedures and, in particular, to heed users’ perceived security needs.

Zeitzeugen (Living Witnesses) is an entertaining book that transports the reader back to various eras of numismatic history and boasts captivating images of historical coins. Over the course of thirty richly illustrated chapters, Zeitzeugen recounts episodes from various points in two-and-a-half thousand years of historical coinage.

Bargeld ist ein spannendes und zugleich wichtiges Themenfeld, welches insbesondere in jüngerer Zeit zum Gegenstand umfangreicher Diskussionen wurde. Dabei steht das Bargeld auch immer wieder in der Kritik, es sei ineffizient, teuer, begünstige die Schattenwirtschaft und beeinträchtige die Wirkung von geldpolitischen Maßnahmen.