The European Central Bank is currently working on developing the digital euro as an electronic
equivalent to cash, aiming to enable secure and anonymous payments and counteract the
privatization of the monetary system. But what is the public`s stance on this endeavor? What
do people actually know about the digital euro? What are the perceived advantages and
disadvantages of the digital euro? And how do people`s perceptions change through
knowledge transfer by experts?
We aim to address these questions in a social science project, using quasi-experimental
methods. Our goal is to identify the perceptions of the digital euro, as well as to analyze how
these perceptions change by receiving expert information. Through the active involvement of
citizens in the research process, we aim at generating further opportunities of knowledge
production.
The planned project serves as a complement to the ongoing FWF project "Payment Methods
in Motion: A Mixed-Method Investigation on the Social Embeddedness of Cash and Cashless
Payment Instruments" at the Department of Sociology at the University of Graz, which
examines the digital and analog payment behavior of the Austrian society. Additionally, we
intend to further examine a representative outcome based on a new scientific paper within our
research team, which suggests that peoples trust in private banks, political and monetary
institutions decreases with increased knowledge about them.