Isn't the obvious reply that in world 1 credit cards would be immediately invented so the world would not be far behind technologically, but in world 2, it is very difficult to increase trust. Denmark introduced it's own payment system in 1983, which was later combined with international cards (visa/Dankort). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debit_card#Denmark If these cards disappeared, this 40+ year old technology would immediately be supplanted by the existing smartphone based alternatives (in Denmark, mobilepay has been around for 10 years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MobilePay). So yeah, insofar as social trust is nice, one should pick world 1.
From a strict libertarian perspective, probably the invention of credit cards is an evil, as electronic money is what empowers ever increasing government regulations and taxing. For this reason, of course, governments are always trying to get rid of physical money. The only way out is to push for non-state money, i.e., crypto currencies. Surely, the last 14 years gives some hope in that direction.
In 'Lying for money'- Dan Davies does a good job of explaining why fraud is often more severe in high trust societies specifically because of the ability to take advantage of trust. Given the high potential for fraud in E-commerce without a middleman acting to vet and insure the process I would suspect that the Danish model would fail.
And on eBay, sellers have a rating, based on feedback from prior transactions. If hundreds or thousands of prior transactions with a given seller have resulted in satisfied customers, then that carries over to me as well, in general. I will note that if all prior transactions were for sub-$10 items, and this time it's a $40,000 used car, I would still be cautious. For large purchases they offer escrow transactions, and there is a reason for that.
Isn't the obvious reply that in world 1 credit cards would be immediately invented so the world would not be far behind technologically, but in world 2, it is very difficult to increase trust. Denmark introduced it's own payment system in 1983, which was later combined with international cards (visa/Dankort). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debit_card#Denmark If these cards disappeared, this 40+ year old technology would immediately be supplanted by the existing smartphone based alternatives (in Denmark, mobilepay has been around for 10 years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MobilePay). So yeah, insofar as social trust is nice, one should pick world 1.
From a strict libertarian perspective, probably the invention of credit cards is an evil, as electronic money is what empowers ever increasing government regulations and taxing. For this reason, of course, governments are always trying to get rid of physical money. The only way out is to push for non-state money, i.e., crypto currencies. Surely, the last 14 years gives some hope in that direction.
Trust still matters: you point out that e-commerce also works in low-trust societies - but that is only because people trust the credit card provider.
In 'Lying for money'- Dan Davies does a good job of explaining why fraud is often more severe in high trust societies specifically because of the ability to take advantage of trust. Given the high potential for fraud in E-commerce without a middleman acting to vet and insure the process I would suspect that the Danish model would fail.
And on eBay, sellers have a rating, based on feedback from prior transactions. If hundreds or thousands of prior transactions with a given seller have resulted in satisfied customers, then that carries over to me as well, in general. I will note that if all prior transactions were for sub-$10 items, and this time it's a $40,000 used car, I would still be cautious. For large purchases they offer escrow transactions, and there is a reason for that.