Retailers Only Sell Half a Loaf in their Analysis of the Costs of Interchange Fees

Open Market published a blog post which points out the flaws of the Robert Shapiro study on the cost of interchange fees. The author writes that the study “ignores half of the equation – the increased costs to bank card users from banks needing to make up a sudden shortfall in revenue as a result of this regulation.” Additionally, the piece highlights the Evans et al. study which finds that some savings to merchants were passed on to the consumer, but those savings were more than wiped out by the increased banking fees and the loss of reward programs.