A research team has found that cash creates economic value nearly three times higher than the costs it generates.
In Germany the costs of cash amount to 0.45 percent of gross domestic product. This equals around 20 billion euros. Revenues of the Bundesbank and the European Central Bank cover less than half of these costs.
Julia Pitters of the International University of Applied Sciences Vienna and Franz Seitz of OTH Amberg-Weiden examined the benefits of cash together with other researchers. The result is available exclusively to Handelsblatt.
The economic value created by coins and banknotes clearly exceeds the costs. Two aspects contribute several billion euros to gross domestic product.
