The use of capital ratios to trigger intervention in problem banks: too little, too late Joe Peek A wave of depository institution failures and dramatic losses to deposit insurance funds occurred in the 1980s and continued into the early 1990s. In response, the Congress passed a series of bank regulatory acts intended to address the […]
Category: New England Economic Review
The saving mystery, or where did the money go? Lynn Elaine Browne Of great concern and puzzlement to many has been the decline in the U.S. personal saving rate. From 8 percent of personal income 20 years ago, saving has fallen to less than 4 percent. This is a matter of concern because saving and […]
Has the stock market become TDD Narrow? – review of Standard and Poor’s Cop. stock index between 1968 and 1999 – Statistical Data Included Richard W. Kopcke Vice President and Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The author thanks Richard Brauman for his very helpful research assistance. ********** The price of equity has soared during […]
Spatial and labor market contributions to earnings inequality: an overview – Special Issue: Earnings Inequality Katharine L. Bradbury Earnings inequality has increased markedly in the United States in recent decades. In 1979, full-time workers at the 90th percentile of the wage distribution earned about three times as much as those at the 10th percentile. By […]
Margin Requirements, Margin Loans, and Margin Rates: Practice and Principles – Statistical Data Included Peter Fortune I. Background Aggregate Margin Loan Data Figure 1 shows the history of Regulation T margin requirements since 1940. This figure shows the required margin ratio, defined as the minimum equity per dollar of securities bought or sold. The data […]
ATM Fees: Does Size Matter? – automated teller machine – Statistical Data Included Joanna Stavins The debate on automated teller machine (ATM) fees heated up recently, when voters in San Francisco and Santa Monica approved bans on banks’ charging non-customers for using their ATMs. A federal court ruling has temporarily barred the two California cities […]
Economic profit and performance measurement in banking – includes related article on performance incentives Ralph C. Kimball Successful bank operation requires managers to weigh complex trade-offs between growth, return, and risk. In recent years banks increasingly have adopted innovative performance metrics such as risk-adjusted return on capital (RAROC) and economic value added [[(EVA.sup.SM]).sup.1], which assist […]
Categories
Is inflation dead?
Is inflation dead? – inflation in the US economy Roger E. Brinner In the past few years the United States has enjoyed the unique economic duet of very low unemployment and declining price inflation. For decades, we have come to associate tight labor markets with accelerating wages and prices. But in 1997, the unemployment rate […]
The housing cycle in Eastern Massachusetts: variations among cities and towns Karl E. Case Numerous studies over the years have attempted to identify the impact of amenities on housing price levels within specific metropolitan areas. It is well known, for example, that local public goods, tax burdens, school quality, crime rates, and the like are […]
Implications of the Globalization of the Banking Sector: The Latin American Experience – history of Latin America’s experience with foreign banks – Statistical Data Included Joe Peek ********** Not since the Great Depression has so much of the world faced widespread banking problems, with 112 episodes of systemic banking crises in 93 countries since the […]