Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 166
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-1-4422-2742-2 • Hardback • August 2018 • $38.00 • (£30.00)
978-1-4422-2743-9 • eBook • August 2018 • $36.00 • (£30.00)
Kai A. Olsen-- Professor, Molde University College (Associate professor from 1982, full professor from 1993); adjunct professor at Department of Informatics, University of Bergen (1993 - ), adjunct professor University of Pittsburgh (1995 - ). Professor Olsen is widely published in the journal literature particularly dealing with a range of issues in eBusiness. He has been interested, and written about, the cashless society for many years and has had many articles published in the press and has been interviewed often on the subject. A book on this topic by someone with the professional respectability of Olsen promises to be reviewed broadly and have relatively high sales.
Preface vii
1. Moving to a Digital World 1
Part One – Computer Applications 7
2. Computer Applications 9
3. Complex Computer Applications 25
Part Two – The Cash-free Society 41
4. Money 43
5. Uncle Joe’s Island 53
6. From Analog to Digital 57
7. Fundamentals for a Digital Economy 65
8. Infrastructure for Digital Payments 71
9. Digital Payments 81
10. Internet Banks 87
11. Virtual Currencies 93
12. Advantages of a Digital Payment System 101
13. Disadvantages of a Digital Payment System 111
14. Case: Norway 123
15. New Systems 141
16. The Cash-free society 147
Index 153
About the author 157
An original, detailed, informative, impressively presented, thoughtful and thought provoking study, "A Cash-Free Society: Whether We Like It or Not" is an essential and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Contemporary Economics collections and supplemental studies lists.
— Midwest Book Review
A Cash-Free Society provides a simple and clear explanation of the movement toward new forms of financial transactions. Olsen again demonstrates his ability to tell a story that everyone can understand. He manages to stay true to the complexity of the underlying technology while helping the reader to see the transition in easy to understand terms. The book is worth reading just for his brief introduction to computer applications and his story-telling reaches new heights with 'Uncle Joe’s Island.'
— Michael B. Spring, Professor, School of Computing and Information, University of Pittsburgh
We are living in a digital world. Digital currency’s supporting infrastructure is inevitably taking over cash payments. Moving towards a cash-free society may be challenging. In this excellent book, Kai Olsen wisely describes technologies, processes, and implications of this movement, providing the reader with a complete picture of this crucial topic for our future society.
— Alessio Malizia, Professor of User Experience Design, University of Hertfordshire, UK
The cash-free society is arriving without much notice, and Olsen highlights important implications, offering a forward looking discussion of this significant transition.
— Petter E. Bjørstad, Professor, University of Bergen
Olsen outlines alternatives for using cash and explains complications associated with those alternatives. He describes the history of gold, silver, coins, banknotes, checks, and credit cards. Barcodes, transaction fees, digital credit, and debit cards, bitcoin, and blockchains complicate the transition to the digital world. The best part of the book is the summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the digital economy. Recommended.
— Choice Reviews