Oz Shy

Senior Policy Adviser and Economist
personal website

To interview economists, press should contact Public Affairs at 470-249-8348.

Oz Shy is a senior policy adviser and economist in the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He has published three books: How to Price (Cambridge University Press, 2008), The Economics of Network Industries (Cambridge University Press, 2001), and Industrial Organization: Theory and Applications (MIT Press, 1996). Dr. Shy has published more than 80 journal and book articles in the areas of industrial organization, network economics, banking, payments, labor economics, and international trade. Dr. Shy has taught at the universities of Michigan, Haifa, and Tel Aviv; the Stockholm School of Economics; the Hanken School of Economics; and the State University of New York. He was a research professor at the WZB Social Science Research Center in Berlin, Germany. Prior to his role at the Atlanta Fed, he taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management and was a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Dr. Shy received a bachelor's degree in economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a PhD in economics from the University of Minnesota, and an honorary doctorate from the Hanken School of Economics.

Atlanta Fed Working Papers

2024

2024-5a
Is Sales Tax Included in the Price? How Consumer Inattention Affects Prices
Oz Shy
June 2024 (Revised May 2025)

2021

2021-11
How People Pay Each Other: Data, Theory, and Calibrations
Claire Greene, Brian Prescott, and Oz Shy
Feburary 2021

2020

2020-08
Alternative Methods for Studying Consumer Payment Choice
Oz Shy
June 2020

2020-03a
Low-Income Consumers and Payment Choice
Oz Shy
February 2020 (revised October 2020)

2019

2019-19b
Consumer Use of Multiple Payment Methods
Oz Shy
October 2019 (revised December 2020 and February 2021)

2019-11b
Cashless Stores and Cash Users
Oz Shy
May 2019 (revised August 2019 and February 2021)

2019-02b
How Currency Denomination and the ATM Affect the Way We Pay
Oz Shy
February 2019 (revised March 2020)

Boston Fed Working Papers

2022

2022-18
Who Is Paying All These Fees? An Empirical Analysis of Bank Account and Credit Card Fees
Oz Shy and Joanna Stavins
December 2022

2022-6
Payments Evolution from Paper to Electronic Payments by Merchant Type
Ruth Cohen, Oz Shy, and Joanna Stavins
February 2022

2014

2014-01
Merchant Steering of Consumer Payment Choice: Evidence from a 2012 Diary Survey
Oz Shy and Joanna Stavins
June 2014

2013

2013-13
How Many Cards Do You Use?
Oz Shy
December 2013

2012

2012-04
Investment in Customer Recognition and Information Exchange
Oz Shy and Rune Stenbacka
March 2012

2011

2011-07
Customer Recognition and Competition
Oz Shy and Rune Stenbacka
July 2011

2010

2010-03
A Short Survey of Network Economics
Oz Shy
April 2010

2009

2009-09
Efficient Organization of Production: Nested versus Horizontal Outsourcing
Oz Shy and Rune Stenbacka
October 2009

2009-08
Real Estate Brokers and Commission: Theory and Calibrations
Oz Shy
September 2009

Articles

2025

Oz Shy. "The Penny Dilemma." Policy Hub: Macroblog. June 23, 2025.

2023

Claire Greene and Oz Shy "How US Consumers without Bank Accounts Make Payments." Policy Hub (2023-1).

2022

Claire Greene and Oz Shy "Payment Card Adoption and Payment Choice." Policy Hub (2022-10).

2021

Oz Shy "Digital Currency, Digital Payments, and the 'Last Mile' to the Unbanked." Policy Hub (2021-9).

2020

Raphael Bostic, Shari Bower, Oz Shy, Larry Wall, and Jessica Washington "Digital Payments and the Path to Financial Inclusion." Promoting Safer Payments Innovation No.20-1 (2020).

Claire Greene and Oz Shy "Research on Paying with Cash and Checks." Notes from the Vault (2020 March).

2019

Oz Shy. "Cashless Stores and Cash Users." Notes from the Vault (2019 May).

Research Data Reports

2024

24-3
Defining Households That Are Underserved in Digital Payment Services
Claire Greene, Fumiko Hayashi, Alicia Lloro, Oz Shy, Joanna Stavins, and Ying Lei Toh

2023

23-2
Personality Traits and Financial Outcomes
Claire Greene, Oz Shy, and Joanna Stavins

23-1
Use of Checks in Selected Countries
Antar Diallo and Oz Shy

Public Policy Discussion Papers

2012

2012-06
Who Gains and Who Loses from the 2011 Debit Card Interchange Fee Reform?
Oz Shy

2010

2010-03
Who Gains and Who Loses from Credit Card Payments? Theory and Calibrations
Scott Schuh, Oz Shy, and Joanna Stavins

2010-01
Person-to-Person Electronic Funds Transfers: Recent Developments and Policy Issues
Oz Shy

Blog Posts

2020

Oz Shy and Larry Wall "The Importance of Digital Payments to Financial Inclusion," macroblog. November 9, 2020.

Books

2008

Shy, O. How to Price: A Guide to Pricing Techniques and Yield Management. Cambridge University Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-521-88759-5 (hc), 978-0-521-71564-5 (pb), [448 pages, 63 illustrations, 95 tables, 38 computer algorithms, 77 problems/solutions].

2001

Shy, O. The Economics of Network Industries. Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN: 0-521-80095-1 (hc), 0-521-80500-7 (pb), [329 pages, 56 illustrations, 23 tables]. Chinese edition: Shanghai University of Finance & Economics Press, 2002; ISBN: 7-81049-773-1/F 662. Japanese edition: Springer-Tokyo, 2003; ISBN 4-431-71003-5. Taiwan edition: Yeh Yeh Book Gallery, 2004; ISBN 957-8555-89-X.

1996

Shy, O. Industrial Organization: Theory and Applications. The MIT Press, 1996. ISBN: 0-262-19366-3 (hc), 0-262-69179-5 (pb), [466 pages, 112 illustrations, 17 tables]. Chinese edition: Tsinghua University Press, 2005; ISBN: 7-302-10612-6.

Journal Articles

2025

Shy, O. "Faster Bank Runs." European Economic Review, 172, February 2025, Article 104915.

2024

Shy, O. "Why Do Banks Require Minimum Balance to Avoid a Fee?" Annals of Finance, 20, December 2024, 395–420.

Shy, O. "Hotelling's Model with Firms Located Close to Each Other." Review of Industrial Organization, 65, November 2024, 649–668.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Lobbying and Liquidity Requirements: Large Versus Small Banks." Journal of Financial Stability, 74, October 2024, Article 101316.

Shy, O. and J. Stavins. "Who Is Paying All These Fees? An Empirical Analysis of Bank Account and Credit Card Fees." Journal of Economics and Business, 129. March–April 2024, 106157.

Greene, C. and O. Shy. "Unbanked Consumers and How They Pay." Journal of Economics and Finance, 48. March 2024, 186–195.

Shy, O. "Should Credit Card Rewards Be Taxed?" Journal of Public Economic Theory, 26(1), February 2024, Article e12660.

2023

Shy, O. "Cash is Alive: How Economists Explain Holding and Use of Cash." Journal of Economic Literature, 61(4), December 2023, 1465–1520.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Noncompete Agreements, Training, and Wage Competition." Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 32(2). Summer 2023, 328–347.

Prescott, B. and O. Shy. "Cash Payments and the Penny Policy Debate." Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 208, April 2023, 80–94.

2022

Shy, O. "Interchange Fees with Cashless Stores, Cashless Consumers, and Cash-Only Consumers." Economics Letters, 212, March 2022, Article 110284.

Greene, C., B. Prescott, and O. Shy. "How People Pay Each Other: Data, Theory, and Calibrations." Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 96, February 2022.

2021

Shy, O. "College Education, Earning Inequality, and Market Power." Journal of Labor Research, 42(3–4), December 2021, 334–357.

Shy, O. "Cashless Stores and Cash Users." Journal of Policy Modeling. 43(3), May-June 2021, 622–638.

Shy, O. "Consumer Use of Multiple Payment Methods." Review of Industrial Organization. 58(3), May 2021, 339–355.

Roberson, B., and O. Shy. "Costly Force Relocation in the Colonel Blotto Game." Economic Theory Bulletin, 9, April 2021, 39–52.

Shy, O. "Multimarket Lobbying with Reserves." Mathematical Social Sciences, 109, January 2021, 106–112.

2020

Shy. O. "Low-Income Consumers and Payment Choice." Research in Economics, 74(3), December 2020, 292–300.

Shy, O. "How Currency Denomination and the ATM Affect the Way We Pay." Journal of Economics and Business 111, September–October 2020.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Common Ownership, Institutional Investors, and Welfare." Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 29(3), Fall 2020, 706–723.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Active Investors, Passive Investors, and Common Ownership." American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings, 110, May 2020, 565–568.

2019

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "An OLG Model of Common Ownership: Effects on Consumption and Investments." Journal of Macroeconomics, 62, December 2019.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Bank Competition, Real Investments, and Welfare." Journal of Economics, 127(1), June 2019, 73–90.

Chen, H., K. Huynh, and Oz Shy. "Cash Versus Card: Payment Discontinuities and the Burden of Holding Coins." Journal of Banking and Finance, 99, February 2019, 192–201.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Anti-Poaching Agreements in Labor Markets." Economic Inquiry, 57(1), January 2019, 243–263.

2018

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Dynamic Labor Market Competition and Wage Seniority." International Journal of Industrial Organization, 61, November 2018, 130–154.

Greene, C., M. Rysman, S. Schuh, and O. Shy. "Costs and Benefits of Building Faster Payment Systems: The U.K. Experience." Capco Institute Journal of Financial Transformation, 47, April 2018.

2017

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "An Overlapping Generations Model of Taxpayer Bailouts of Banks." Journal of Financial Stability, 33, December 2017, 71–80.

2016

Gayer, A. and O. Shy. "A Welfare Evaluation of Tying Strategies." Research in Economics, 70(4), December 2016, 623–637.

Shy, O., R. Stenbacka, and V. Yankov. "Limited Deposit Insurance Coverage and Bank Competition." Journal of Banking and Finance, 71, October 2016, 95–108.

Shy, O., R. Stenbacka, and D. Zhang. "History-based versus Uniform Pricing in Growing and Declining Markets." International Journal of Industrial Organization, 48, September 2016, 88–117.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Customer Privacy and Competition." Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 25(3), Fall 2016, 539–562.

2015

Shy, O. "Do Tips Increase Workers' Income?" Management Science, 61(9), September 2015, 2041–2051.

Shy, O. and J. Stavins. "Merchant Steering of Consumer Payment Choice: Evidence from a 2012 Diary Survey." Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 55, April 2015, 1–9.

Melnik, A. and O. Shy. "Exclusion, Competition, and Regulation in the Retail Loan Market." Journal of Banking and Finance, 52, March 2015, 189–198.

2014

Greene, C. and O. Shy. "E-cash and Virtual Currency as Alternative Payment Methods." Journal of Payments Strategy and Systems, 8(3), Autumn/Fall 2014, 274–288.

Shy, O. "Measuring Some Effects of the 2011 Debit Card Interchange Fee Reform." Contemporary Economic Policy, 32(4), 2014, 769–783.

Briglevics, T. and O. Shy. "Why Don’t Most Merchants Use Price Discounts to Steer Consumer Payment Choice?" Review of Industrial Organization, 44(4), 2014, 367–392.

Shy, O. and J. Stavins. "Merchant Steering of Consumer Payment Choice: Lessons Learned From Consumer Surveys." Survey Methods: Insights from the Field, April 2014.

2013

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Investment in Customer Recognition and Information Exchange." Information Economics and Policy, 25(2), 2013, 92–106.

2012

Gehrig, T., O. Shy, and R. Stenbacka. "A Welfare Evaluation of History-Based Price Discrimination." Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, 12(4), 2012, 373–393.

Shy, O. "Real Estate Brokers and Commission: Theory and Calibrations. Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 45(4), 2012, 982–1004.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Efficient Organization of Production: Nested versus Horizontal Outsourcing." Economics Letters, 116(3), September 2012, 593–596.

Shy, O. "Account-to-Account Electronic Money Transfers: Recent Developments in the United States." Review of Network Economics, 11(1), March 2012, Article 3.

Schuh, S., O. Shy, J. Stavins, and R. Triest. "An Economic Analysis of the 2011 Proposed Settlement Between the Department of Justice and Credit Card Networks." Journal of Competition Law and Economics, 8(1), March 2012, 107–44.

2011

Shy, O. and Z. Wang. "Why Do Card Networks Charge Proportional Fees?" American Economic Review, 101(4), June 2011, 1575–1590.

Gehrig, T., O. Shy, and R. Stenbacka. "History-based Price Discrimination and Entry in Markets with Switching Costs: A Welfare Analysis." European Economic Review, 55(5), June 2011, 732–739.

Shy, O. "A Short Survey of Network Economics." Review of Industrial Organization, 38(2), March 2011, 119–149.

2010

Shy, O. "Consistent Bargaining." Economics Bulletin, 30(2), May 2010, 1425–1432.

2009

Forshner, Z. and O. Shy, "Constant Best-Response Functions: Interpreting Cournot." International Journal of Business and Economics, 8(1), April 2009, 1–6.

2008

Shy, O. "Measuring the Cost of Making Payment Decisions." Journal of Socio-Economics, 37(6), December 2008, 2411–2416.

Ringbom, S. and O. Shy. "Refunds and Collusion in Service Industries." Journal of Economics and Business, 60(6), Nov.–Dec. 2008, 502–516.

Melnik, A., O. Shy, and R. Stenbacka, "Assessing Market Dominance." Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 68(1), October 2008, 63–2.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Price Competition, Business Hours, and Shopping Time Flexibility." Economic Journal, 118, August 2008, 1171–1195.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Rethinking the Roles of Banks: A Call for Narrow Banking." The Economists' Voice, 5(2), June 2008, Art. 6.

2007

34. Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Liquidity Provision and Optimal Bank Regulation." International Journal of Economic Theory, 3(3), September 2007, 219–233.

Shy, O., "Dynamic Models of Religious Conformity and Conversion: Theory and Calibrations." European Economic Review, 51(5), July 2007, 1127–1153.

2006

Gayer, A. and O. Shy. "Publishers, Artists, and Copyright Enforcement." Information Economics and Policy, 18(4), November 2006, 374–384.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Service Hours with Asymmetric Distributions of Ideal Service Time." International Journal of Industrial Organization, 24(4), July 2006, 736–771.

2005

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Partial Outsourcing, Monitoring Cost, and Market Structure." Canadian Journal of Economics, 38(4), November 2005, 1173–1190.

2004

Ringbom, S. and O. Shy, "Advance Booking, Cancellations, and Partial Refunds," Economics Bulletin, 13(1), 2004, 1–7.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Market Structure and Risk Taking in the Banking Industry." Journal of Economics, 82(3), July 2004, 249–280.

Hassin, O. and O. Shy. "Code-Sharing Agreements and Interconnections in Markets for International Flights." Review of International Economics, 12(3), August 2004, 337–352.

Ringbom, S., O. Shy, and R. Stenbacka. "Optimal Liquidity Management and Bail-out Policy in the Banking Industry." Journal of Banking and Finance, 28(6), June 2004, 1319–1335.

2003

Gayer, A. and O. Shy. "Copyright Protection and Hardware Taxation." Information Economics and Policy, 15(4), December 2003, 467–483.

Gayer, A. and O. Shy. "Internet and Peer-to-Peer Distributions in Markets for Digital Products." Economics Letters, 81(2), November 2003, 51–57.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Market Structure and Diversification of Mutual Funds." Journal of Financial Markets, 6(4), August 2003, 607–624.

Issman-Weit, E. and O. Shy. "Pricing of Library Subscriptions with Applications to Scientific Journals." Journal of Economics and Business, 55(2), March–April 2003, 197–218.

Shy, O. and R. Stenbacka. "Strategic Outsourcing," Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 50(2), February 2003, 203–224.

2002

48. Ringbom, S. and O. Shy. "The "Adjustable-Curtain" Strategy: Overbooking of Multiclass Service." Journal of Economics, 77(1), 2002, 73–90.

Shy, O. and J. Tarkka. "The Market for Electronic Cash Cards." Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, 34(2), May 2002, 299–314.

Shy, O., "A Quick-and-Easy Method for Estimating Switching Costs." International Journal of Industrial Organization, 20(1), January 2002, 71–87.

2001

Grilo, I., O. Shy, and J. Thisse. "Price Competition When Consumer Behavior is Characterized by Conformity and Vanity." Journal of Public Economics, 80(3), June 2001, 385–408.

Gandal, N. and O. Shy. "Standardization Policy and International Trade." Journal of International Economics, 53(2), 2001, 363–383.

2000

Shy, O. "Exporting as a Signal for Product Quality." Economica, 67(1), February 2000, 79–90.

1999

Shy, O. and J. Thisse. "A Strategic Approach to Software Protection." Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 8(2), Summer 1999, 163–190.

1998

Berechman, J., S. Poddar, and O. Shy. "Network Structure and Entry in the Deregulated Airline Industry." Keio Economic Studies, 35(2), 1998, 71–82.

1996

Shy, O. "Technology Revolutions in the Presence of Network Externalities." International Journal of Industrial Organization, 14(6), October 1996, 785–800.

Chou, C. and O. Shy. "Do Consumers Always Gain When More People Buy the Same Brand?" European Journal of Political Economy, 12, September 1996, 309–330.

Horn, H. and O. Shy. "Bundling and International Market Segmentation." International Economic Review, 37(1), February 1996, 51–69.

1993

Fishman, A., N. Gandal, and O. Shy. "Planned Obsolescence as an Engine of Technological Progress." Journal of Industrial Economics, 41(4), December 1993, 361–370.

Chou, C. and O. Shy. "The Crowding-Out Effects of Long Duration of Patents." Rand Journal of Economics, 24(2), Summer 1993, 304–312.

Chou, C. and O. Shy. "Technology Revolutions and the Gestation of New Technologies." International Economic Review, 34(3), August 1993, 631–645.

Chou, C. and O. Shy. "Partial Compatibility and Supporting Services." Economics Letters, 41, 1993, 193–197.

1992

Lee, F. and O. Shy. "A Welfare Evaluation of Technology Transfer to Joint Ventures in the Developing Countries." The International Trade Journal, 7(2), Winter 1992, 205–220.

1991

Chou, C. and O. Shy. "A Model Technology Gap, Product Cycle, and the Process of Catching up Between the North and the South." Economics Record, September 1991, 217–226.

Chou, C. and O. Shy. "An Overlapping Generations Model of Self-Propelled Growth." Journal of Macroeconomics, 13(3), Summer 1991, 511–521.

Chou, C. and O. Shy. "Intra-Industry Trade and the Variety of Home Products." Canadian Journal of Economics, 24(2), May 1991, 405–416.

Chou, C. and O. Shy. "New Product Development and the Optimal Duration of Patents." Southern Economic Journal, 57(3), January 1991, 811–821.

1990

Chou, C. and O. Shy. "Network Effects Without Network Externalities." International Journal of Industrial Organization, 8, June 1990, 259–270.

1989

Shy, O. "External Effects and Pareto Inferior Trade." Southern Economic Journal, 56, July 1989, 56–63.

1988

Shy, O. "A General Equilibrium Model of Pareto Inferior Trade." Journal of International Economics, 25, August 1988, 143–154.

Articles Published in Edited Books

2013

Shy, O. "Strategies for Network Industries." In: C. Thomas and W. Shughart II (eds.) The Oxford Handbook in Managerial Economics, Oxford University Press, 2013, ISBN: 9780199782956, Ch.14: 302–324.

2006

Heimer, O. and O. Shy. "Code-sharing Agreements, Frequency of Flights, and Profits Under Parallel Operation." In: D. Lee (ed.) Advances in Airline Economics, Vol. 1: Competition Policy and Antitrust. Elsevier; 2006, ISBN: 0-444-51843-6, Ch.7: 163–181.

Gayer, A. and O. Shy. "Copyright Enforcement in the Digital Era." In: G. Illing and M. Peitz (eds.) Industrial Organization and the Digital Economy, MIT Press, 2006: ISBN: 0-262-09041-4, Ch.8: 229–240.

2005

Shy, O. "Industrial Organization." In: A. Kuper and J. Kuper (eds.) The Social Science Encyclopedia, Routledge, 2005, third edition; ISBN: 0415-108292.

2000

Shy, O. "The Economics of Copy Protection in Software and Other Media." In: Kahin, B. and H. Varian (eds.) Internet Publishing and Beyond: The Economics of Digital Information and Intellectual Property, MIT Press, 2000; ISBN: 0-262-61159-7; Ch.5: 99–113.

1996

Berechman, J. and O. Shy. "The Structure of Airline Equilibrium Networks." In: J. van den Bergh, P. Nijkamp, and P. Rietveld (eds.) Recent Advances in Spatial Equilibrium Modelling: Methodology and Applications, Springer, 1996; ISBN: 3-540-60708-0; Ch.7: 138–155.