Credit card interchange fees

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Banking & Finance
Year: 2010
Volume: 34
Issue: 8
Pages: 1788-1797

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We build a model of credit card pricing that explicitly takes into account credit functionality. In the model a monopoly card network always selects an interchange fee that exceeds the level that maximizes consumer surplus. If regulators only care about consumer surplus, a conservative regulatory approach is to cap interchange fees based on retailers' net avoided costs from not having to provide credit themselves. This always raises consumer surplus compared to the unregulated outcome, sometimes to the point of maximizing consumer surplus.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jbfina:v:34:y:2010:i:8:p:1788-1797
Journal Field
Finance
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29