Writing for Guardian Australia, culture and lifestyle editor Celina Ribeiro examines the impact of cashless spending on people’s perception of money, the required trade-off of privacy for convenience, and the importance of cash to inclusion and security.
Firstly, Ribeiro highlights the continued popularity of banknotes as a store of wealth. ‘Australia is awash with cash’, with the Reserve Bank saying that, for every one citizen, there are 18 $100 notes and 38 $50 notes in circulation.
Cash offers comfort and reassurance, explains economic anthropologist Dr Chris Vasantkumar of Macquarie University. It also supports monetary stability, he says, with countries such as Nigeria and India experiencing rapid shifts towards cashless policies that have shaken confidence in money and the economy.
There are also those for whom cash is not a choice, but a necessity for interacting with the economy. Australia has a relatively low unbanked population, however a report from the Center for Financial Inclusion found over three million adults lacked access to safe, affordable financial products and services. Additionally, those living in rural areas may have patchy internet access that makes cashless payments unreliable.
Steve Worthington, Professor of Financial Services at Swinburne University of Technology, says that for many, cash is essential to daily life.
