Theoretical Economics

Journal of the Econometric Society

Edited by: Federico Echenique • ISSN (e): 1555-7561 • ISSN (print): 1933-6837

Theoretical Economics: Jan, 2024, Volume 19, Issue 1

Digital currency and privacy

https://doi.org/10.3982/TE5081
p. 131-167

Kee-Youn Kang

We develop a monetary model in which a private company issues digital currency and uses payment data to estimate consumers' preferences. Sellers purchase preference information to produce goods that better match consumers' preferences. A monopoly arises in the digital currency industry, and digital currency is not issued if the inflation rate is sufficiently high. Due to reinforcing interactions between the value of preference information and trade volume, multiple equilibria (with and without digital currency) can exist depending on market structures for monetary exchanges. When left to market forces alone, socially efficient uses of payment data may not occur.


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