Selected Land Reforms in East and Southeast Asia: Their Origins and Impacts

Agrarian reforms in the four case study countries examined here came about by outside influence (Korea and Taiwan), revolutionary uprising (People's Republic of China), and legislation (Philippines). In the last case, the reforms remain very incomplete. In Taiwan and South Korea, reforms initially promoted a more equitable distribution of resources and income. This widened the domestic market, lessened underemployment and joblessness in both agriculture and industry, increased profitability in manufacturing, and established more equitable development patterns. In these economies, a national market has preceded (or accompanied) development of world markets. Land reform is not a once-and-for-all phenomenon. Resources and incomes can concentrate again in the absence of proper government policies. There is no necessary correlation between land reform, economic improvement, and democratic forms of government.     

Risk and concentration in payment and securities settlement systems

What drives the intraday patterns of settlement in payment and securities settlement systems? Using a model of the strategic interaction of participants in these systems to capture some stylized facts about the Federal Reserve's Fedwire funds and securities systems, this paper identifies three factors that influence a participant's decision on when to send transactions intraday: cost of intraday liquidity, extent of settlement risk, and system design. With these factors, the model can make predictions regarding the impact of policy on the concentration of transactions, amount of intraday overdrafts, central bank credit exposure, costs to system participants, and other risks.