Search Results
Journal Article
Understanding the wash cycle
Money laundering has gone on since the first crime was committed for profit, but it has been explicitly illegal only since 1986. Interest in this topic soars whenever a major ?laundromat? is uncovered. This Economic Commentary describes the money laundering process, summarizes the evolving statutes, and describes the Federal Reserve?s role in assisting in their enforcement
Working Paper
The effect of pricing on demand and revenue in Federal Reserve ACH payment processing
Because the automated clearinghouse (ACH) has been found to have lower social costs than paper checks, the Federal Reserve has been promoting more widespread use of ACH by lowering ACH processing fees. In this paper we have obtained the first numerical estimates of ACH demand elasticities, a measure of the responsiveness of ACH demand to price changes. In order to determine how robust the estimates are, various methods were employed to estimate the demand elasticities. ; Our results show that the volume of ACH items processed by the Federal Reserve does respond to changes in per-item fees. We ...
Working Paper
Decomposing TFP growth in the presence of cost inefficiency, nonconstant returns to scale, and technological progress
A decomposition of observed total factor productivity (TFP) growth that examines changes in returns to scale, cost efficiency, and technology and that develops several decompositions using production and cost frontiers.
Journal Article
Productivity gains: how permanent?
This Economic Commentary confirms that productivity growth has been unusually robust over the last few years and explores reasonable assumptions about the likely future pattern of productivity growth. These assumptions can generate substantially different productivity growth paths. Government forecasts, which guide the major tax and benefit programs, have been increased in recent years yet remain cautious.
Discussion Paper
Estimating GSP and labor productivity by state
In gauging the health of state economies, arguably the two most important series to track are employment and output. While employment by state is available about three weeks after the end of a month, data on output, as measured by Gross State Product (GSP), are only available annually and with a significant lag. This Policy Discussion Paper details how more current estimates of GSP can be generated using U.S. Gross Domestic Product and personal income along with individual states personal income. A straightforward share approach yields reasonable GSP estimates, but a more sophisticated ...
Journal Article
Scale economies and technological change in Federal Reserve ACH payment processing
An analysis of the contribution of scale economies, technological change, and falling input prices to the absolute reduction in the real processing costs of an ACH transfer over the 1979-94 period.
Journal Article
Efficiency and technical progress in check processing
An examination of the cost of providing check-processing services at 47 Federal Reserve offices between 1983:1Q and 1990:IVQ, demonstrating how the Fed's unit cost measures can be decomposed into separate effects related to differences in cost efficiency, output mix, input prices, and environmental variables.
Working Paper
Scale economies, scope economies, and technical change in Federal Reserve payment processing
In the past decade, the U.S. economy has witnessed a tremendous surge in the usage of electronic payment processing services and an increased importance of the firms that provide these services. The payments industry has also undergone changes in cost structure with the introduction of new technology. Unfortunately, data on the private provision of payment processing services are not available. However, the Federal Reserve provides similar services and collects data on its own provision of payments processing, offering an opportunity to gain insights into the cost structure of payments ...
Journal Article
What you should know about identity theft
Identity theft?appropriating someone else?s identity for illicit gain?is the fastest-growing financial crime. It can cause considerable financial losses, and cleaning up a trashed credit history can be time consuming and frustrating. This Economic Commentary examines the identity theft phenomenon?how it works, how lawmakers, regulators, and financial institutions are combating it, and what consumers can do to protect themselves.
Working Paper
TFP growth, change in efficiency, and technological progress in the U. S. airline industry: 1970 to 1981
An overview of the airline industry's early adaptations to deregulation using a best-practice cost function approach; measures cost efficiency and changes in total factor productivity growth for airlines in the 1970s and early 1980s and discusses how these findings relate to individual airline performance.