In most Swedish cities, public buses don\u2019t accept cash; tickets are prepaid or purchased with a cell phone text message. A small but growing number of businesses only take cards, and some bank offices \u2014 which make money on electronic transactions \u2014 have stopped handling cash altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are towns where it isn\u2019t at all possible anymore to enter a bank and use cash,\u201d complains Curt Persson, chairman of Sweden\u2019s National Pensioners\u2019 Organization.<\/p>\n
He says that\u2019s a problem for elderly people in rural areas who don\u2019t have credit cards or don\u2019t know how to use them to withdraw cash.<\/p>\n
The decline of cash is noticeable even in houses of worship, like the Carl Gustaf Church in Karlshamn, southern Sweden, where Vicar Johan Tyrberg recently installed a card reader to make it easier for worshippers to make offerings.<\/p>\n
\n
\u201cPeople came up to me several times and said they didn\u2019t have cash but would still like to donate money,\u201d Tyrberg says.<\/p>\n
Bills and coins represent only 3 percent of Sweden\u2019s economy, compared to an average of 9 percent in the eurozone and 7 percent in the U.S., according to the Bank for International Settlements, an umbrella organization for the world\u2019s central banks.<\/p>\n
Three percent is still too much if you ask [ABBA\u2019s Bjoern] Ulvaeus. A cashless society may seem like an odd cause for someone who made a fortune on \u201cMoney, Money, Money\u201d and other ABBA hits, but for Ulvaeus it\u2019s a matter of security.<\/p>\n
After his son was robbed for the third time he started advocating a faster transition to a fully digital economy, if only to make life harder for thieves.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there were no cash, what would they do?\u201d says Ulvaeus, 66.<\/p>\n
The Swedish Bankers\u2019 Association says the shrinkage of the cash economy is already making an impact in crime statistics.<\/p>\n
The number of bank robberies in Sweden plunged from 110 in 2008 to 16 in 2011 \u2014 the lowest level since it started keeping records 30 years ago. It says robberies of security transports are also down.<\/p>\n
\u201cLess cash in circulation makes things safer, both for the staff that handle cash, but also of course for the public,\u201d says Par Karlsson, a security expert at the organization.<\/p>\n
The prevalence of electronic transactions \u2014 and the digital trail they generate \u2014 also helps explain why Sweden has less of a problem with graft than countries with a stronger cash culture, such as Italy or Greece, says economics professor Friedrich Schneider of the Johannes Kepler University in Austria.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people use more cards, they are less involved in shadow economy activities,\u201d says Schneider, an expert on underground economies.<\/p>\n
Do you think eliminating cash entirely in favor of all-electronic transactions would be a good idea?<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sweden was the first country to introduce paper banknotes, back in 1661.\u00a0 And now it is on the verge of being the first country to eliminate cash altogether: In most Swedish cities, public buses don\u2019t accept cash; tickets are prepaid or purchased with a cell phone text message. A small but growing number of businesses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1480,2143],"class_list":["post-11159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","tag-money","tag-sweden"],"yoast_head":"\n
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