Charging Ahead : The Growth and Regulation of Payment Card Markets around the World Book

Introduction; Part I. The Basics of Payment Cards: 1. Paper or plastic? - payment system functionality; 2. The mechanics of payment card transactions; Part II. Easy Money: 3. In defense of credit cards; 4. The psychology of card payments - card spending and consumer debt; 5. Over the brink - credit card debt and bankruptcy; Part III. The Puzzle of Payment Cards: 6. Explaining the pattern of global card use; 7. The introduction of the payment card; 8. Revolving credit; 9. Point-of-sale debit; 10. Convergence and exceptionalism in the use of cards; Part IV. Reforming Payment Systems: 11. Indirect approaches: regulating interchange and encouraging surcharges; 12. Contract design; 13. Regulating information; 14. Product design: affinity and rewards programs and teaser rates; Part V. Optimizing Consumer Credit Markets and Bankruptcy Policy: 15. Causation, consumer credit and bankruptcy; 16. Regulating consumer credit markets; 17. Consumer bankruptcy reform; Conclusion; Endnotes; Bibliography; Index.