Money is What Money Does: Prospects for an Electronic Money Payment System in Japan

Abstract

Despite of amazing progress in information technology that has taken place in recent years, the electronic money failed to live to the expectations and has made little headway into payments systems. The gap between expectations and reality is especially pronounced in Japan. The reason behind the failure of electronic money in Japan is two-fold. First, typical use of electronic money is in general rather limited as long as conventional money is required as a unit of account and a store of value for the former operation. Second, Japanese financial institutions chose very limited standards for their electronic money systems that could not compete with near the monopolistic position the credit card companies enjoy in cashless payment markets. On the contrary, Germany adopted a wide standard that fully utilises the advantages of electronic money as a medium of payment.