After the financial crisis: the future of payment innovations

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago hosted its tenth annual Payments Conference, Payment Innovations in the Wake of the Financial Crisis, on May 20–21, 2010, to discuss emerging trends within the payments industry and new regulation following the financial crisis.research on health and health care policy.Financial crises ; Payment systems

Exploring the new face of retail payments (special issue)

At the Chicago Fed’s 2011 Payments Conference, held on May 19–20, participants discussed how changes in consumers’ behavior in the wake of the financial crisis and recession can translate into opportunities and challenges for both traditional and nascent payment providers. They also focused on the impact of payment innovations and new consumer protection regulations.Payment systems

Milwaukee Longitudinal School Choice Evaluation: Annual School Testing Summary Report 2010-11

Effective at the start of the 2010-11 school year, 2009 Wisconsin Act 28 requires private schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) to administer the state test, the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations (WKCE) in reading, mathematics and science to all MPCP pupils in the same grades as public school students tested under Title 1 of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Prior to the 2010-11 school year, 2005 Wisconsin Act 125 required private schools participating in the MPCP to administer a nationally normed standardized test of their choosing annually in reading, mathematics, and science to the MPCP students enrolled in the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades. Schools are currently given the option to continue to administer other nationally normed tests if they wish, in addition to the WKCE. The law further directs MPCP schools to submit copies of the test scores from all tests and examinations administered to their pupils in 2010-11 to the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) for processing and reporting to the Legislative Audit Bureau. During the 2010-11 school year, all 102 MPCP schools that were required to administer tests did so and provided the results to the SCDP. Specifically, the SCDP received 10,657 WKCE test scores. Sixty-three schools submitted only the WKCE test scores and the remaining 39 schools submitted both nationally normed tests, such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the WKCE. Five MPCP schools were not required to send in scores as they enrolled no MPCP students in mandatory testing grades

Payments pricing: who bears the cost? - a conference summary

As consumers and merchants increasingly adopt electronic payments, the pricing of these services has generated substantial scrutiny by public authorities around the world. To discuss these developments and related issues, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago hosted its ninth annual Payments Conference on May 14–15, 2009.Payment systems

Means-Tested Vouchers: Impacts on Public School Performance & Racial Stratification

This dissertation examines the systemic effects of private school choice in the context of two statewide, means-tested school voucher programs-- the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program (ICSP) and the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP). Specifically, I examine public school responses to private school competition from the ICSP and the LSP and the direct impacts of the LSP on racial stratification in public and private schools. In Louisiana, I show that the lowest-graded public schools had a modest, statistically significant, positive response to the injection of competition, with impacts ranging from .001 to .06 SD. In Indiana, the evidence is slightly weaker. In math, none of the four competition measures are significantly related to school-average performance whereas in English Language Arts, three out of eight results provide evidence of a statistically significant, positive competitive effect. Depending on the radius selected, a one-unit increase in the concentration measure (a modified Herfindahl Index) is associated with a .04 to .05 SD increase in school-average ELA achievement. Regarding racial stratification in Louisiana\u27s schools, I show that LSP transfers reduce racial stratification in the voucher students\u27 former public schools, but marginally increase racial stratification in the private schools. Specifically, 82% of all student transfers reduce racial stratification in the traditional public schools, compared to 45% in private schools. Overall, the articles presented in this dissertation demonstrate that private school choice programs have null to modest positive impacts on the students who remain in public schools. Given that traditional public schools are and will continue to be the primary provider of educational services in K-12, this is good news for public school students in states with expanding private school choice programs

Influence of Urban Street Vending on Pedestrian Experience and Behaviour: A Systematic Quantitative Review

Urban street vending is an integral part of everyday public life and can contribute to vibrant and lively streets. Yet, few cities formally integrate this activity into public space design. This is because street vending is a highly contested, although transformative phenomenon that has complex inter-relationships with other urban entities. This paper systematically and quantitatively assesses the breadth and depth of academic literature that studied such a relationship; more specifically, the influence of street vending on pedestrians' experiences and behaviours and thereby identifies gaps in the existing literature. A systematic review of 25 peer-reviewed journal articles is undertaken to provide an assessment of the geographic extent, disciplinary scope, timeline of publications, keywords, methods, theories, constructs and concepts. This review concludes that the existing research is emerging, but rapidly accelerating and cross-disciplinary. Although the research was predominantly conducted in the Global South, it is largely affiliated with the Global North with limited North-South partnerships. The literature is largely qualitative, indicating a propensity for skewed perspectives. It also lacks theoretical applications exclusive to pedestrian-vendor relationships. Finally, potential areas where future researchers may expand and influence the knowledge domain are identified. This includes developing multi-contextual global perspectives through North-South partnerships and combining or independently applying grounded theory, mixed methods and case study research to broaden theoretical and empirical bases