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).

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.

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.

This study investigates the effects on consumer prices of rounding final total prices or individual prices in the retail sector. The empirical analysis based on around  70,000 sales receipts shows that, when the final total price is rounded commercially to the nearest whole 5 euro cent increment, virtually no effect on the price level can  be expected.

At the International Cash Conference in September 2014 papers on a variety of topics were presented and discussed. Costs and benefits of cash and cashless payment instruments, the role of cash in financial crises as well as the payment behavior were focussed. This conference volume contains the majority of the presentations held at the conference and other photographically impressions of the conference.

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.

Cash continues to be consumers’ preferred payment method. Nonetheless, the turnover share of cash transactions in the German retail trade has been slowly but continually falling for years.