Search Results
Journal Article
\"Don't panic\": a primer on airline deregulation
A summary of the theory behind airline deregulation, and a look at the future evolution of the airline industry as it adapts to its new environment.
Working Paper
A technique for estimating a cost system that allows for inefficiency
The presentation of a new econometric technique for estimating a system of cost and input share equations that allow for inefficiency.
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.
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.
Working Paper
U.S. air passenger service: a taxonomy of route networks, hub locations, and competition
In this paper, we analyze the service provided by the 13 largest U.S. passenger airlines to the 100 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas in 1989. We classify the route systems by their nature and geographical extent using a variety of measures based on route-level data. We then identify individual airline hub locations and derive and calculate several measures of the extent of competition both on individual routes and at the airports in our sample. The results show the wide diversity of route networks that existed in the airline industry in 1989--a phenomenon that may help to explain the ...
Journal Article
Measuring the unseen: a primer on capacity utilization
An examination of the usefulness of two measures of capacity utilization in predicting price pressures and future investment: one measure attempts to represent the maximum physical output a plant can produce, and one is based on changes in production costs as output increases; article concludes with July 1 issue.
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
Consumer financial privacy and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
By requiring financial institutions to put adequate controls in place to secure consumers? confidential data and by clearly spelling out what rights consumers and financial institutions have, the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is a positive step toward ensuring consumer financial privacy. If there are no market imperfections, then competition may be relied on to efficiently sort out the competing interests of consumers and financial institutions. Alternatively, if there are market imperfections in the form of externalities, the Coase theorem suggests that the act, by clearly assigning property ...
Journal Article
A beginner's guide to the U.S. payments system
A description of the U.S. payments system, outlining its evolution and examining some of the areas where improvements are needed.
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 ...