Yes, this is the main argument in Clay Shirky's "The Case Against Micropayments" (2000) [1]. It holds up pretty well 20 years later. Micropayments are not "pay

Yes, this is the main argument in Clay Shirky's "The Case Against Micropayments" (2000) [1]. It holds up pretty well 20 years later. Micropayments are not "pay $2 or $3 per month" (either flat-fee or average), there are plenty of successful examples of that. Micropayments are "pay $0.004 or $0.02 for reading this article or using this service now". As Shirky noted, the problem with micropayments are not the technology or transactions costs. The problem is that they require a huge amount of user time and attention, relative to the value of the item being bought. This has not changed in the past 20 years. [1] http://mx.thirdvisit.co.uk/2002/10/04/theacaseaagainstamicropayments/ http://mx.thirdvisit.co.uk/2002/10/04/theacaseaagainstamicro...