The Optimal Design of Payments Systems Workshop

The Optimal Design of Payment Systems Workshop, which is supported by CFSP, brings together experts to examine payment and transfer technologies for use in developing countries where banking and transportation infrastructure is limited.

Given the assumption that, because of differences in comparative advantage, households are better off when they can trade goods than when they are self-sufficient, the overall goal of the workshop is to encourage payments systems that expand access to the payments and financial system for poor people. The workshop also explores related questions regarding the coexistence of private and public means of payment, the overall optimal design of payments systems, and the regulation of financial systems – regulatory regimes have been weak historically in developing countries.

Ultimately, the workshop aims at informing policy that will expand payments systems in developing countries, and ensure their long-term stability and reliability. <Read the full workshop vision statement>

Papers and Presentations

May 2011 meeting

• The Demand for Currency with Uncertain Lumpy Purchases, Fernando Alvarez (with Francesco Lippi)
• The Emergence and Future of Central Counterparties, Cyril Monnet (with Thorsten V. Koeppl
• The Optimal Design of Payment Systems: Regulation and Policy, David Mills
• The Design of Wholesale Payments Networks: The Importance of Incentives, William Roberds (with Charles M. Kahn)
• Gross and Net Settlement in Payment Systems: A (Selective) Survey (slides), William Roberds
• Monetary Theory and Electronic Money: Reflections on the Kenyan Experience, Tavneet Suri, and Robert M. Townsend (with William Jack)
• Monetary Theory and Electronic Money: Reflections on the Kenyan Experience (slides), Tavneet Suri, and Robert M. Townsend (with William Jack)
• Clearing Arrangements in the United States Before the Fed, Warren Weber
• Liquidity Provision in Capacity Constrained Markets, Pierre-Olivier Weill
• Leaning Against the Wind, Pierre-Olivier Weil

Meeting Participant Lists

• May 2011 participants

Meeting Agendas

• May 2011 agenda

Read More

• News article about the May 2011 meeting
• Overview of the May 2011 meeting