Federal Reserve System

About: Federal Reserve System is a other organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Monetary policy & Inflation. The organization has 2373 authors who have published 10301 publications receiving 511979 citations.

Household saving in the u.s.

Abstract: In this paper the authors present evidence on household saving in the U.S. based on the panel data from the 1983 and 1986 waves of the Survey of Consumer Finances. Saving is measured in these surveys as the change in wealth over the three-year period. Using a variety of models, we are able to explain only about 7 percent of the variation in the level of saving. Demographic factors appear to be modestly useful in explaining saving. However, one fact is very clear from the patterns of correlation extracted so far: either the measurement error in the data is quite large, or idiosyncratic factors are very important in explaining saving behavior, or both.

Determinants of Entry and Profits in Local Banking Markets

Abstract: This paper estimates a two equation model of market entry and profits, utilizing data on entry into over 2,000 banking markets over the period 1977--88 The entry equations measure whether entry depends on incumbent firms' profits and other market attributes that reflect the long-term attractiveness of markets for entry Market profits, assumed to follow a partial-adjustment process, are affected by entry directly and indirectly through market structure The model also corrects for an unavoidable source of error in market-level profits for the banking industry The estimates suggest that a competitive process is at work in banking markets that limits the ability of supra-normal profits to persist Entry is more likely in markets that have high profits, consistent with previous empirical results that market structure adjusts more quickly when profits are supra-normal Population and population growth are also strong determinants of entry Entry, in turn, reduces profits in rural markets

Theory of Credit Card Networks: A Survey of the Literature

Abstract: Credit cards provide benefits to consumers and merchants not provided by other payment instruments as evidenced by their explosive growth in the number and value of transactions over the last 20 years. Recently, credit card networks have come under scrutiny from regulators and antitrust authorities around the world. Focusing on interrelated bilateral transactions, several theoretical models have been constructed to study the implications of several business practices of credit card networks. Suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Income Segregation and Intergenerational Mobility Across Colleges in the United States

Abstract: We construct publicly available statistics on parents’ incomes and students’ earnings outcomes for each college in the United States using deidentified data from tax records. These statistics reveal that the degree of parental income segregation across colleges is very high, similar to that across neighborhoods. Differences in postcollege earnings between children from low- and high-income families are much smaller among students who attend the same college than across colleges. Colleges with the best earnings outcomes predominantly enroll students from high-income families, although a few mid-tier public colleges have both low parent income levels and high student earnings. Linking these income data to SAT and ACT scores, we simulate how changes in the allocation of students to colleges affect segregation and intergenerational mobility. Equalizing application, admission, and matriculation rates across parental income groups conditional on test scores would reduce segregation substantially, primarily by increasing the representation of middle-class students at more selective colleges. However, it would have little effect on the fraction of low-income students at elite private colleges because there are relatively few students from low-income families with sufficiently high SAT/ACT scores. Differences in parental income distributions across colleges could be eliminated by giving low- and middle-income students a sliding-scale preference in the application and admissions process similar to that implicitly given to legacy students at elite private colleges. Assuming that 80% of observational differences in students’ earnings conditional on test scores, race, and parental income are due to colleges’ causal effects—a strong assumption, but one consistent with prior work—such changes could reduce intergenerational income persistence among college students by about 25%. We conclude that changing how students are allocated to colleges could substantially reduce segregation and increase intergenerational mobility, even without changing colleges’ educational programs.