Wilko Bolt

Short Bio 

Wilko Bolt is a senior economist at the Economics and Research Division of DNB and professor of Payment Systems at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He was also active as a researcher at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt and Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His main research areas are payment systems, money and banking, platform economics and business cycles. His research appeared in academic journals such as American Economic Review, European Economic Review, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, and European Journal of Operational Research. Wilko Bolt was awarded the Hennipman Prize by the Dutch Royal Economic Association in 2007 for his research.

Education

1997 - Ph.D. in Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; dissertation: Theory of Negotiation.
1992 - M.Sc. in Econometrics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Research Interests 

• payment systems
• money and banking
• platform economics
• industrial organization
• business cycles and international trade

Working Papers

The Bank of Amsterdam and the limits of fiat money (with Jon Frost, Hyun Song Shin and Peter Wierts), BIS Working Paper 1065, 2023 Download; DNB Working Paper 764, 2023. Download

The global macroeconomics of a trade war: The EAGLE model on the US-China trade conflict (with Kostas Mavromatis and Sweder van Wijnbergen), CEPR Discussion Paper 13495, 2019 Download; DNB Working Paper 623, 2019. Download

Using debit card payments data for nowcasting Dutch household consumption (with Roy Verbaan and Carin van der Cruijsen), DNB Working Paper 571, 2017. Download

Tourist test or tourist trap? Unintended consequences of debit card interchange fee regulation (with Nicole Jonker en Mirjam Plooij), DNB Working Paper 405, 2013. Download

See further my Repec page.

Publications in refereed journals

Jonker, N., C. van der Cruijsen, M. Bijlsma and W. Bolt, 2022, Pandemic payment patterns, Journal of Banking and Finance 143(106593), 1-25. Download

Bolt, W., V. Lubbersen and P. Wierts, 2022, Getting the balance right: Crypto, stablecoin and central bank digital currency, Journal of Payment Strategy and Systems 16(1), 39-50. Download JPSS article or working paper.

Bolt, W. and M. van Oordt, 2020, On the value of virtual currencies, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 52(4), 835-862. Download

Bolt, W.,  M. Demertzis, C. Diks, C. Hommes and M. van der Leij, 2019, Identifying booms and busts in house prices under heterogeneous expectations, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 103, 234-259.Download

Bolt, W. and L. Mester, 2017, Introduction to retail payments: Mapping out the road ahead, Journal of Financial Services Research 52(1-2), 1-3. Download

Bolt, W. and D. Humphrey, 2015, Assessing bank competition for consumer loans, Journal of Banking and Finance 61, 127–141. Download

Bolt, W. and D. Humphrey, 2015, A frontier measure of U.S. banking competition, European Journal of Operational Research 246(2), 450-461. Download

Bolt, W. and D. Humphrey, 2014, Competition in bank-provided payment services, Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures 2(4), 21-51. Download

Bolt, W., 2013, Pricing, competition and innovation in retail payment systems: A brief overview, Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures 1(3), 73-90. Download

Bolt, W. and H. Schmiedel, 2013, Pricing of payment cards, competition, and efficiency: A possible guide for SEPA, Annals of Finance 9(1), 5-25. 

Bolt, W., L. de Haan, M. Hoeberichts, M. van Oordt and J. Swank, 2012, Bank profitability during recessions, Journal of Banking and Finance 36(9), 2552–2564. Download

Bolt, W. and D. Humphrey, 2010, Bank competition efficiency in Europe: A frontier approach, Journal of Banking and Finance 34(8), 1808-1817. Download

Bolt, W., N. Jonker and C. van Renselaar, 2010, Incentives at the counter: An empirical analysis of surcharging card payments and payment behaviour in the Netherlands, Journal of Banking and Finance 34(8), 1738-1744. Download

Bolt, W. and D. Humphrey, 2009, Payment scale economies from individual bank data, Economics Letters 105(3), 293-295. Download

Beijnen, C. and W. Bolt, 2009, Size matters: Economies of scale in European payments processing, Journal of Banking and Finance 33(2), 203-210. Download

Bolt, W. and A. Tieman, 2008, Heavily skewed pricing in two-sided markets, International Journal of Industrial Organization 26(5), 1250-1255. Download

Bolt, W., D. Humphrey and R. Uittenbogaard, 2008, The effect of transaction pricing on the adoption of electronic payments: A cross-country comparison, International Journal of Central Banking 4(1), 89-123. Download

Bolt, W. and D. Humphrey, 2008, Reducing payment processing costs: Scale economies and SEPA, Journal of Payment Strategy and Systems 2(3), 250-258.

Bolt, W. and D. Humphrey, 2007, Payment network scale economies, SEPA, and cash replacement, Review of Network Economics 6(4), 453-473. Download

Bolt, W. and A. Tieman, 2006, Social welfare and cost recovery in two-sided markets, Review of Network Economics 5(1), 103-117. Download

Bolt, W., 2006, Retail payments in the Netherlands: Facts and theory, De Economist 154(3), 345-372. Download

Bolt, W. and A. Tieman, 2004, Banking competition, risk, and regulation, Scandinavian Journal of Economics 106(4), 783-804. Download

Houba, H. and W. Bolt, 2000, Holdouts, backdating and wage negotiations, European Economic Review 44(9), 1783-1800. Download

Bolt, W. and H. Houba, 1998, Strategic bargaining in the variable threat game, Economic Theory 11(1),  57-77. Download

Bolt, W., 1995, Striking for a bargain between two completely informed agents: A comment, American Economic Review 85(5), 1344-1347. Download 

Books and publications in books

Bolt, W. and D. Humphrey, 2017, Competition and Prices by Bank Service Line, in: Handbook on Competition in Banking and Finance, J. Bikker and L. Spierdijk (eds.), Edward Elgar, 340-364.

Bolt, W., N. Jonker and M. Plooij, 2016, European Payment Systems: Pricing, Regulation and Innovation, in: The Palgrave Handbook of European Banking, T. Beck and B. Casu (eds), Palgrave Macmillan, 159-186.

Bolt, W. and S. Chakravorti, 2012, Pricing in retail payment systems: A public policy perspective on pricing of payment cards, in: Payment Systems: Design, Governance and Oversight,  B. Summers (ed.), Central Banking Publications, 217-235. 

Bolt, W. and S. Chakravorti, 2012, Digitization of retail payments, in: Oxford Handbook of the Digital Economy, M. Peitz and J. Waldfogel (eds.), Oxford University Press, 108-137. 

Bolt, W., N. Jonker and C. van Renselaar, 2009, An empirical analysis of payment behaviour and debit card surcharges in the Netherlands, in: Evolving Payment Habits, H. Leinonen (ed.), Proceedings of the Bank of Finland Payment Habits Seminar 2008.

Bolt, W., 2003, Effectivity of deposit insurance (comment), in: Banking Supervision at the Crossroads, T. Kuppens, H. Prast and S. Wesseling (eds.), Edward Elgar, 131-133.

Houba, H. and W. Bolt, 2002, Credible Threats in Negotiations: A Game-theoretic Approach, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Bolt, W. and M. Peeters, 1998, Corporate governance in the Netherlands, in: Corporate Governance, Financial Markets and Global Convergence, M. Balling et al. (eds.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, 89-112.

Bolt, W., 1997, Theory of Negotiation, Thesis Publishers, Amsterdam.

Other publications

Bolt, W., V. Lubbersen and P. Wierts, 2022, Balancing public and private interests: Crypto, stablecoin and central bank digital currency, SUERF Policy Note 275. Download 

Bolt, W., V. Lubbersen and P. Wierts, 2022, Een nieuwe balans tussen publiek en privaat geld (A new balance between public and private money), De Actuaris 29(3), 44-45. Download

Jonker, N., C. van der Cruijsen, M. Bijlsma and W. Bolt, 2021, Effect of COVID-19 on payment patterns: A policy perspective, European Economy, 2021(1), 173-187.

Bijlsma, M., W. Bolt and N. Jonker, 2021, Regulering toegang betaalinfrastructuur vergt nadere analyse (Regulation of access to payment infrastructure needs more analysis), Economisch Statistische Berichten, 106(4797), 244-246. Download

Bolt, W., 2021, Betalingsverkeer: geen twee- maar veelzijdige markt! (Payment systems: not a two-sided but multi-sided market!), in Betalingsverkeer: Alledaags en academisch, Liber Amicorum van Piet Mallekoote (Directeur van Betaalvereniging Nederland).

Bolt, W. and M. Leuvensteijn, 2020, Fintech is vriend én vijand van de banken (Fintech is friend and foe of the banks), in Mededingingsbeleid, pp. 40-51, (Preadviezen KVS; Vol. 2020) Economisch Statistische Berichten. Download

Bolt, W. and M. van Oordt, 2019, Speculation and the price of virtual currency, VoxEU.org (column), May 14th.

Bolt, W., K. Mavromatis and S. van Wijnbergen, 2019, The global macroeconomics of a trade war: Findings from the EAGLE model, VoxEU.org (column) , April 25th.

Bolt, W. and M. van der Leij, 2018, Ontwrichting van tweezijdige markten door platformen (Two-sided disruption by platforms), Economisch Statistische Berichten 103(4768S), 12-15. Download

Bolt, W., K. Mavromatis and S. van Wijnbergen, 2018, Winnaar en verliezers bij handelsoorlog tussen Verenigde Staten en China (Trade war between United States and China - winners and losers), Economisch Statistische Berichten 103(4768), 554-556. Download

Bolt, W., 2017, Book Review: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction, by A. Narayanan et al., Princeton University Press, in: Journal of Economic Literature 55(2), 467-469.

Bolt, W. and M. van Oordt, 2017, Volatiliteit bitcoinkoers neemt af bij meer gebruik (Volatility Bitcoin exchange rate is reduced when usages increases), Economisch Statistische Berichten, 102(4748), 174-177. Download

Bolt, W. and B. Butler, 2017, E-commerce drukt prijzen (E-commerce dampens prices), Economisch Statistische Berichten 102(4753S), 14-17. Download

Bolt, W., L. de Haan, M. Hoeberichts, M. van Oordt and J. Swank, 2013, Bankwinsten in een krimpende economie (Bank profitability during recessions), Economisch Statistische Berichten 98(4662), 372-375. Download

Bolt, W. and S. Chakravorti, 2009, Un panorama sobre la literatura de las tarjetos de pago (Payment cards: A review of the literature), Perspectivas del Sistema Financiero 97, 1-13.

Bolt, W. and S. Chakravorti, 2009, A summary of payment card economics, The Lydian Payments Journal, November.

Bolt, W. and S. Chakravorti, 2008, Economics of payment cards: A status report, Electronic Banking, Law & Commerce Report 13(10), 1-16.

Bolt, W. and S. Chakravorti, 2008, Economics of payment cards: A status report, Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Q4, 15-27. Download

Bolt, W., 2008, The European Commission's ruling in Master Card: A wise decision, Competition Policy International, April. Download

Bolt, W., 2008, Op weg naar een gemeenschappelijke Europese betaalmarkt (Toward a common European payments market), Economisch Statistische Berichten 93, 714-716 Download

Bolt, W., 2007, Retail payments in card use in the Netherlands: Pricing, scale, and antitrust, Competition Policy International 3(1), 257-270.

Bolt, W., 2006, Book review: Regulation and Development, by J. J. Laffont, Cambridge University Press, in: De Economist 154(2), 317-318.

Bolt, W., 2005, Book review: Putting Auction Theory to Work, by P. Milgrom, Cambridge University Press, in: De Economist 153(2), 231-232.

Bolt, W., M. van Rooij and A. Tieman, 2002, Nooit meer hoge inflatie (Never again high inflation), Economisch Statistische Berichten 87, 130-131. Download

Bolt, W. and C. Winder, 2002, Particulieren betalen voor betalen (Consumers pay to pay), Economisch Statistische Berichten 87, 603-605. Download

Bolt, W. and A. Tieman, 2002, Banking regulation and risk in a competitive environment, Bank- en Financiewezen/Revue Bancaire et Financière 66(2-3), 156-165.

Bolt, W. and H. Houba, 2000, Een lager loon, met terugwerkende kracht (Lower wages, in retroaction), Economisch Statistische Berichten 85, 621-662.

Bolt, W. and P. van Els, 2000, Output gap and inflation in the EU, DNB Staff Reports 44, De Nederlandsche Bank. Download

Bolt, W., H. Prast and A. Stokman, 2000, Eurodynamiek verliest momentum: uitkomsten van de negende DNB-euro-enquête (Eurodynamics loses power: results from the 9th DNB-euro-survey), Bank- en Effectenbedrijf 49, 31-33. 

Latest update: March 2023