In its quarterly reporting, VISA discloses “Operational performance data”, which includes the data on card payments and cash transaction volumes, split by geography and card program type (debit vs. credit). Given the scale of the company and the number of VISA cards out there (4.05 billion to be specific, of which 1.27 billion are in the U.S.), one can argue that these data can provide valuable insights into the state of the economies and the financial health of consumers around the globe.