So, it’s not exactly a news flash that, in spite of electronic payments, cash is sticking around for a long time for a lot of different reasons. But, one of those reasons, that it’s really the cheapest way to pay, may be more myth than fact. So says Ben Mazzotta, a researcher from the Fletcher School at Tufts who just spent months studying the hidden costs of cash. Find out why he thinks consumers should use less of it.
Dr. Benjamin Mazzotta
Postdoctoral Research Fellow for Inclusive Growth, Tufts Fletcher School
Dr. Benjamin D. Mazzotta is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for Inclusive Growth at the Center for Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME), part of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He works on the Cost of Cash study, which shatters the myth that cash is free of cost, since virtually all economic actors pay direct and indirect financial burdens to participate in the cash payments system.
He has held a number of research positions with Tufts University and elsewhere: with the Institute for Global Maritime Studies, the Space Policy Working Group, the Cultural Change Institute, the University of Duhok’s School of Economics and Business Administration, and the US Cyber Consequences Unit (US-CCU).
His graduate research focused on financial innovation in the public sector. The case study was a drought insurance pilot in Ethiopia on behalf of the World Food Program, which was subsequently adopted by a multidonor fund for drought relief. The dissertation explained how ideas drove innovation, specifically the worldwide focus on disaster risk management, rather than organizational problems such as donor harmonization or interest group pressures.
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