The payment system as a public good? Lessons learned in the Netherlands

Uniform, standardised payment methods reduce transaction costs considerably, allowing payments to be made more efficiently. This is especially true for purchases and sales on the internet, where payment innovations make it much easier for customers to pay for e-commerce transactions. The role of the government in this is to safeguard the public interest with respect to the payment system. This paper discusses various viewpoints for government intervention from the perspective of public sector economics. More specifically, regulators need to set rules for new players in relation to the revised Payment Services Directive.