Cashless society: Is there a relationship between innovation and cash circulation in economy?

Abstract: Around the globe, countries move away from banknotes and coins in the favor of digitized payments. A number of findings from academic research conclude various benefits associated with decreased cash usage, such as enhanced economic development, less costs for governments and banks, financial transparency as well as lower economic-related crime rates. In a light of various benefits moving towards cashless payments, it is hypothesized that there also could be a relationship between how innovative a country is and how much cash circulates in economy. The relationship could be both-sided like less cash circulation can trigger innovation and, at the same time, adoption of cashless payments could be driven by how innovative a country is. To be able to investigate a potential correlation, a correlation analysis is conducted between the two variables: an innovation level of a country and cash circulation in econom. The Global Innovation Index score will be used to summarize various factors that provide an overview of national innovation performance, and percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be used for currency in circulation. According to the findings, the hypothesis that there is a correlation between cash circulation and innovation performance in a country could not be rejected with a 5% significance level.