In a paper titled "Are Consumers Cashing Out?", Paul Bauer and Daniel Littman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland examine consumer usage of cash for payments - "Two indirect methods of measuring cash usage suggest that people are indeed switching from cash to more electronic forms of payment, but the process is happening slowly. Innovations in electronic payments may be gradually eroding the advantages of using cash, but cash is still preferred for many transactions."

MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, a macro-economic report tracking retail sales nationally, has reported summary results for the 2007 Holiday shopping season concluding that, for the period between Black Friday and December 24, retail grew by a seasonally adjusted 3.6% over the same period in 2006.   » Continue Reading

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• San Jose Mercury News: Keeping gift-card change
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