Call for Papers: RESEARCH CONFERENCE ON PAYMENT SYSTEMS

                           CALL FOR PAPERS

                RESEARCH CONFERENCE ON PAYMENT SYSTEMS

                       14 and 15 November 2008
                                Oslo


     Norges Bank (the central bank of Norway) is presently
     conducting an extensive survey of costs for all parties
     involved in retail payment transactions. Results of this
     survey will be available in the early fall of 2008. On this
     occasion Norges Bank will organize a research conference on
     payment systems. The conference takes place in Oslo on 14
     and 15 November 2008.


     TOPICS:

     We welcome empirical and theoretical papers dealing with
     all aspects of retail payments, in particular the following
     issues:

     - Pricing and use of payment services
     - Efficient pricing of payment services
     - Substitution among payment instruments, including cash
     - Pricing in two-sided markets
     - Studies of costs in payments systems
     - Efficiency comparisons
     - Competition in providing payment services
     - Costs and benefits from a Single European Payments Area
     - Bank versus non-bank providers of payment services
     - Incentive effects from card reward programs

     Papers should be of high quality and represent original
     research not yet published in international journals.


     KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

     Jean-Charles Rochet, Toulouse School of Economics: "Why are
     interchange fees so different for credit and debit cards?"
     David B. Humphrey, Florida State University: "Retail
     Payments: A Survey of Empirical Results and Unanswered
     Questions".


     PROGRAM COMMITTEE:

     Submitted papers will be evaluated by a program committee
     consisting of:

     Gabriela Guibourg (Sveriges Riksbank), David B. Humphrey
     (Florida State University),
     Eirik G. Kristiansen (Norwegian School of Economics and
     Business Administration),
     Jean-Charles Rochet (Toulouse School of Economics), and
     Bent Vale (Norges Bank)


     PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:

     Papers or drafts of papers to be considered for the
     conference should be mailed to:

     Email:       MAILTO:payments_conference@norges-bank.no

     in PDF or Word format by 30 June 2008. Authors of submitted
     papers will be notified about the decision of the program
     committee before 1 October 2008.

     Complete versions of accepted papers should be submitted by
     1 November 2008.

     Norges Bank can cover travel and accommodation costs for a
     limited number of speakers and discussants from academia.
     Submissions to the Journal of Banking and Finance Selected
     papers from the conference will be published in a special
     issue of the Journal of Banking and Finance (JBF). Along
     with your submission, please indicate whether you would
     like the paper to be considered for publication in the JBF.
     Acceptance of your paper for the conference does not
     guarantee publication in the JBF as all papers must go
     through the journal's regular refereeing process.
Posted 2/9/08