Authors: GRIGORIOS GIKAS, ALINA HYZ, SPIRIDON BINIORIS

Title: Contemporary Views on the Evolution of the Payment Means. The elimination of cash and its consequences. The sad eyes of Europe.

Abstract

In recent years, several proposals for elimination of cash have appeared, but the economic consequences of these endeavours have not yet been examined.

The main purpose of this paper is to describe the evolution of the means of payment during the last decades and to analyse the subject of elimination of cash in Greek and European economies. The creation of cashless economy will bring benefits as well as problems. One major benefit is increasing efficiency. On the other hand, it will bring problems, like disturbance of money supply, instability of the foreign exchange rate, and so on.

This paper discusses the reasons and arguments of supporters and opponents of the cash elimination and the possible consequences from the viewpoint of economics. We also analyse the advantages, disadvantages, benefits and risks associated with the possibility of removing cash from the economy. Finally, a possible scenario for the future is forecast