A Less-Cash Society, Not a Cashless One

A Bloomberg View article published on Oct. 14 misinterprets the main message of my recent book, "The Curse of Cash." The book's core idea is this: That we phase out large-denomination notes. It does not advocate eliminating cash entirely. There is a world of difference.

The large notes (for example, U.S. $100 bills and 500-euro bills) that dominate the global currency supply are hardly essential for retail transactions; the overwhelming demand comes from criminals and tax evaders in the underground economy. Ordinary people engaged in legal, tax-compliant and regulatory-compliant transactions would hardly miss the big notes, at least according to extensive evidence that central banks and other researchers have accumulated. As for privacy, having to rely on smaller bills is hardly a huge inconvenience except for individuals engaged in recurrent, extremely high-value transactions, which begs the question of what the transactions might be.