Working Paper: NBER ID: w28133
Authors: Fernando E. Alvarez; David O. Argente
Abstract: We estimate the private benefits for Uber riders from using alternative payment methods. We focus on Mexico where riders have the option to use cash or credit cards to pay for rides. We use three field experiments involving approximately 400,000 riders to estimate the loss of private benefits for riders if a ban on cash payments is implemented. We find that Uber riders, using cash as means of payment either sometimes or exclusively, suffer an average loss of approximately 50% of their expenditures on trips paid in cash before the ban.
Keywords: Consumer Surplus; Payment Methods; Uber; Cash Payments
JEL Codes: E4; E5
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Cash Users' Expenditures Loss (D12) | Consumer Surplus Loss for Cash Riders (D16) |
| Cash Ban (E42) | Cash Users' Expenditures Loss (D12) |
| Cash Ban (E42) | Consumer Surplus Loss for Cash Riders (D16) |
| Cash Ban (E42) | Consumer Surplus Loss for Credit Migrants (F16) |
| Cash Ban (E42) | Elasticity of Substitution between Cash and Credit (E41) |