Sliding into the Dark Ages with the Zero Bound
"With today's technical possibilities, coins and notes are in fact an anachronism. They made payments incredibly difficult, with people wasting all sorts of time at the cashier as they wait for the person ahead of them to dig through their belongings to find some cash, and for the cashier to render change (rather than, for example, waiting for someone to find the right credit card, complete the transaction, and wait for approval)."But the additional time is not the largest benefit of the elimination of cash. It dries out the markets for moonlighting and drug trafficking. Almost a third of the Euro cash in circulation consists of 500-Euro notes. No one needs those for shopping; light-shy figures use them for their activities. [Also] it would be easier for central banks to impose their monetary policies. At this time, they cannot push interest rates appreciably below zero because the savers would hoard cash. If there is no cash, the zero bound is eliminated."
- Enhance the tax base, as most/all transactions in the economy could now be traced by the government;
- Substantially constrain the parallel economy, particularly in illicit activities;
- Force people to convert their savings into consumption and/or investment, thereby providing a boost to GDP and employment.