Today Nicolas Crouzet and Filippo Mezzanotti, join us to talk about their research paper (joint with Ph.D. student Apoorv Gupta), which explores the digital wallet adoption in India, after the country voided the two largest denominations of its fiat currency in circulation in 2016. Both Nicolas and Filippo are professors of finance at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. The paper, called Shocks and Technology Adoption: Evidence from Electronic Payment Systems, investigates the diffusion of technologies subject to positive adoption externalities and argues that “in the presence of externalities, large, temporary shocks can lead to persistent waves of adoption.” They share some insight into what led to the demonetization and the effects it had, along with what the long-lasting implications of the shock have been in relation to digital payments. They also explore some of the global payment trends and discuss where India fits into the picture of payment digitization. For all this and much more, join us today!