A World Without Paper Money Would Present Promise, Problems

Shall we get rid of paper currency and replace it with electronic currency? A policy experiment from the country of elephants (India) and a thought experiment from the ivory tower (Harvard University) are pushing us to muse over the question.

India's sudden announcement that it will replace the two largest bank notes (500 and 1,000 rupees) with new notes set off a small panic in the country, with long lines outside of banks by people waiting to change their cash holdings into new notes, and periodic horror stories of patients at emergency clinics with wads of old notes being refused treatment.