Niveles de competencia y uso de tarjetas de crédito en México. Un enfoque de mercados de dos lados

Abstract

Competition Levels and Credit Cards Use in Mexico. A Two-Sided Markets Approach The objective of this article is to analyze the relationship between credit card payments, the concentration indexes from the two sides of the market (issuer and acquirer), and the number of terminals and credit cards per capita. It is the first study that incorporates competition indicators as possible determinants of card use for the Mexican economy. The methodology used is based on a time series analysis. Our results indicate that the most important determinant of card use is the number of terminals per capita. The most important recommendation is that to promote the use of electronic payments the installation of terminals by banks should be encouraged. This would require, for instance, a decrease in the interchange fee. The macroeconomics public data that we use does not allow us to analyze local or regional effects or individual behavior.

Keywords

• tarjetas de crédito, niveles de concentración, mercados de dos lados