Imposing choice on the uninformed : the case of dynamic currency conversion

Ewerhart, Christian and Li, Sheng (2023) Imposing choice on the uninformed : the case of dynamic currency conversion. Journal of Banking and Finance, 154. 106917. ISSN 0378-4266 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2023.106917)

[thumbnail of Ewerhart-Li-JBF-2023-Imposing-choice-on-the-uninformed] Text. Filename: Ewerhart-Li-JBF-2023-Imposing-choice-on-the-uninformed.pdf
Accepted Author Manuscript
Restricted to Repository staff only until 24 December 2025.
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 logo
Download (829kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Over the course of the past two decades, it has become a common experience for consumers authorizing an international transaction via credit card to be invited to choose the currency in which they wish the transaction to be executed. While this choice, made feasible by a technology known as dynamic currency conversion (DCC), seems to foster competition, we argue that the opposite is the case. In fact, the unique pure-strategy equilibrium in a natural fee-setting game, with uninformed and possibly inattentive consumers, turns out to be highly asymmetric, entailing fees for the service provider that persistently exceed the monopoly level. Although losses in welfare may be substantial, a regulatory solution is unlikely to come about due to a global free-rider problem.

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)