Title
The Need for Speed: Demand, Regulation, and Welfare on the Margin of Alternative Financial Services
Upjohn Author ORCID Identifier
Publication Date
5-11-2023
Source
The Review of Economics and Statistics: 1–25
Abstract
We use a nonlinear reduction in a bank's check-cashing fees and variation in regulated check-clearing times to identify the elasticity of demand for cashing checks rather than depositing them. We find that an extra day of check-clearing time makes account holders 65.5% more likely to cash a check than deposit it, which implies they are willing to pay $11.17 per day for faster access to their funds – an effective annualized discount rate of 11,054% for the average check. We use this elasticity to evaluate recent proposals that mandate faster check-clearing times.
DOI
10.1162/rest_a_01308
Publisher
The MIT Press
Subject Areas
Urban issues
Citation
McDevitt, Ryan C. and Aaron Sojourner. 2023. "The Need for Speed: Demand, Regulation, and Welfare on the Margin of Alternative Financial Services." The Review of Economics and Statistics: 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_01308