L'impatto della pandemia sull'uso degli strumenti di pagamento in Italia

This paper evaluates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of retail payment instruments in Italy. After a brief overview of the trends prevailing in Italy before the spread of the pandemic, we analyse the dynamics of the main indicators on payment habits during the two waves of infection that have affected the country. We estimate the effects on the payment industry using different measures of the intensity of the pandemic in order to capture the impact of fears of contagion on the behaviour of households and businesses and the impact of the measures taken to contain the infection, which imposed constraints on social mobility and productive and commercial activities. The estimates show that the pandemic has increased the use of cards compared with cash at the physical point of sale and has encouraged transactions through more innovative payment technologies that allow physical distancing, such as purchases with contactless cards, those on e-commerce sites, and those made by bank transfer. Moreover, the analysis at the regional level suggests that the increase in more innovative electronic payments was more marked in Central and Southern Italy, areas in which, before the pandemic, the diffusion of electronic means of payment was more contained in comparison with the North of the country. The frequency of online purchases, on the other hand, has grown more in the North, which has a more evolved digital ecosystem and has been more severely affected by health emergency and, therefore, by stricter restrictions.