Fed Credit Policy: What is a Lender of Last Resort?

Discussions of the Fed׳s financial crisis lending – and its role as “Lender of Last Resort” more generally – often overlook the distinction between monetary policy and credit policy. Central bank actions constitute monetary policy if they alter the quantity of the bank׳s monetary liabilities, but constitute credit policy if they alter the composition of the bank׳s portfolio without affecting the outstanding amount of monetary liabilities. In the 19th century, Henry Thornton and Walter Bagehot advocated Lender of Last Resort policies as a means of expanding the money supply when the demand for money surged in a crisis. In contrast, the Fed׳s recent crisis lending for the most part left its outstanding monetary liabilities unaffected, and thus represented credit policy, not Lender of Last Resort activity. Credit allocation in a crisis is potentially costly because it affects market participants׳ beliefs about the likelihood of future central bank rescues, which in turn reduces their incentive to protect themselves against financial distress and thus exacerbates financial instability. Credible limits on credit policy thus are critical to central banks׳ core policy mission. One path to establishing such limits is to create “living wills” that detail how to resolve large, complex financial firms without government support.     

Cyclically adjusted provisions and financial stability

This paper studies the extent to which alternative loan loss provisioning regimes affect the procyclicality of the financial system and financial volatility. It uses a DSGE model with financial frictions (namely, collateral effects and economies of scope in banking) and a generic formulation of provisioning regimes. Numerical experiments with a parameterized version of the model show that cyclically adjusted (or, more commonly called, dynamic) provisioning can be highly effective in terms of mitigating procyclicality and financial risks, measured in terms of the volatility of the credit-output ratio and real house prices, in response to financial shocks. The optimal combination of simple cyclically adjusted provisioning and countercyclical reserve requirement rules is also studied. The simultaneous use of these instruments does not improve the ability of either one of them to mitigate financial volatility, making them (partial) substitutes rather than complements.     

Interest on reserves,policy rules and quantitative easing

Hundred percent reserve transaction banking system is proposed with tax-free interest on demand deposits and interest bearing reserves. To eliminate shadow banking arrangements, a 100% tax on net interest income is proposed for limited liability businesses. All financing of businesses would be mutual as currently most is. With this arrangement there would be no bank runs associated giving rise to a financial crisis.     

“Let's try to get the best out of it” understanding land transactions during land use change

This article investigates land transactions in relation to intended land use change from a micro-scale perspective. A better understanding of land transactions is important for understanding and influencing how land is used. The aim is to explore how the different aspects and their interrelations influence landowner behaviour during land transactions initiated by the government. The study draws on 42 explorative interviews with land purchasers, land policy experts, planning professionals and local farmers.The study shows that uncertainty, and feelings of justice are pivotal aspects during land transactions. Moreover, land transactions are co-evolving with the planning process. Landowners exhibit strategic behaviour based on their personal situation and their expectations on uncertain aspects. The strategies are strongly interrelated with the evolution of land use change. Land use changes are both input on which actors base their strategies, as well as the outcome of those strategies. The aspects found in this study were strongly interrelated and changed over time. Some aspects were context dependent, while others are expected to influence land transactions in general. In this light, the strength of a successful planner is twofold: on the one hand a planner needs to be a good communicator; on the other hand a planner should be able to deal with uncertainty and expectations during plan processes.     

外汇储备适度规模研究述评及新进展

本文在对国内外外汇储备适度规模相关研究进行分类、归纳和评价的基础上,梳理了外汇储备适度规模理论研究的新进展,并展望了今后研究的方向,旨在为我国相关的研究提供借鉴。     

美国联邦储备系统的审计监督经验及启示

本文通过对美国联邦储备系统审计监管框架的调查,借鉴美国对中央银行审计的先进经验和做法,提出抓住重点开展央行资产负债表审计、增强审计报告的可读性、建立各级机构内审工作评估机制、建立未整改问题定期报告机制及加强内审队伍职业化建设等深化我国中央银行内审工作转型的建议。     

A bottom-up ‘Convention-Check’ to improve top-down global protected area governance

This paper introduces the so-called ‘Convention-Check’ as a new bottom-up approach of assessing the contribution of large-scale protected areas to the implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) that are introduced from the top down. The assessment consists of three major sub-sequential parts: the current contribution of a protected area to the implementation of the MEAs, recommendations for improvements and – through an ex-post-evaluation – the impact of the recommendations provided. The Convention-Check is carried out in a total of ten methodical working steps. A very first application of the method is presented based on the example of an Austrian National Park. In this example, a Convention-Check was carried out using five MEAs and was evaluated after two years. The results show that there is great variability regarding the number and intensity of implementation measures already taken by the different levels of governance addressed. Potential reasons and perspectives for the example situation, as well as possibilities for future improvement of the method and its global application on large scale protected areas, are discussed. A significant and causal impact of the Convention-Check towards improved protected area governance is already shown by the Austrian example after two years. The Convention-Check combines different working methods from social as well as natural sciences in a new way. Its innovative approach is designed to overcome deadlocks in the top-down implementation of MEAs by means of bottom-up initiatives out of large scale protected areas, and aims to contribute towards improved global protected area governance.     

治理环境、终极控制人两权分离与股权融资成本

本文以2004—2006年非金融行业上市公司为样本,检验终极控制人现金流权、两权分离、治理环境和终极人性质对股权融资成本的影响,终极控制人的两权分离程度与股权融资成本之间的关系是否受治理环境的影响,以及上述治理环境与股权融资成本的直接和间接关系是否与终极控制人性质有关。研究发现,（1）两权分离与股权融资成本显著正相关,而现金流权与股权融资成本显著负相关。（2）治理环境本身与股权融资成本负相关,且治理环境的显著改善能弱化两权分离对股权融资成本的负面影响。（3）相对于非国有上市公司,国有公司的股权融资成本较低,且上市公司的国有性质在一定程度上能强化治理环境对股权融资成本的正面作用。     

Species protection from current reserves: Economic and biological considerations, spatial issues and policy evaluation

The expansion of nature reserves is an important public policy strategy for the protection of biological diversity. In this paper, the authors use integer programming model structures derived from Location Set Covering Problem and Maximal Covering Location Problem approaches of location science as tools for selectively augmenting nature reserve sites for special status species protection. The linear programming models presented incorporate the following: biological constraints in the form of species' area needs; economic constraints in the form of opportunity costs of converting smaller administrative districts into nature reserves; and spatial constraints in the form of required connectivity among districts in site selection. The construction of a taxonomic data set for Thailand enables the implementation of the models, the comparison of results and evaluation of the differences in outcomes. The models build upon the existing nature reserve network in Thailand and suggest various public policy options that would augment the reserves for enhancing species protection and for possibly improving national conservation efforts at lowest costs.     

自然人流动、信息传递效应与双边产业内贸易

本文在分析自然人流动对双边产业内贸易影响渠道的基础上,运用修正后的贸易引力模型,以中国为例,对自然人流动对双边产业内贸易的影响进行实证分析,结果显示：（1）自然人流动对于双边产业内贸易有着积极影响;（2）自然人流动对产业内贸易的影响主要作用于制成品;（3）母国与东道国的差异性越大,自然人流动对产业内贸易的影响越明显。据此,本文认为,消减自然人流动壁垒,促进自然人在全球范围内自由配置的意义不只在于服务贸易本身,其对于全面实现贸易自由化具有重要意义。