Contingent liability in banking : useful policy for developing countries?

Bank owner contingent liability has been important in the development of many industrial countries. Unlimited liability on bank owners was an important element in the success of Scottish banking, which led Scotland to be free of the banking and monetary upheavals that occurred in Britain and the United States. The unlimited liability provision effectively minimized the losses suffered by bank noteholders and other creditors. Three factors were vital to the success of unlimited liability in Scotland: 1) the identities of bank owners were made publicly available, and their level of wealth could be verified; 2) under Scottish bankruptcy law, owner liability extended to both personal and inheritable wealth; and 3) the transfer of ownership claims in private and provincial banks required that ownership first be dissolved before a new bank could be formed. A contingent liability system has three advantages: 1) because double liability imposes postclosure losses on bank stockholders, it increases incentives for banks to hold capital and decreases moral hazard incentives; 2) a contingent liability system can ameliorate asymmetric information problems between bank creditors and owners; and 3) contingent liability can lead to more efficient capital formation if potential capital sources are predominantly in the form of fixed wealth, as is true in many developing countries. But a free-rider problem arises when less-wealthy stockholders rely on the monitoring efforts of wealthier stockholders, who have more incentive to monitor. And in a free and anonymous exchange market, investors with less personal fixed wealth will outbid those with greater wealth, so the value of double liability could collapse overtime.Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Banking Law,Banks&Banking Reform,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Financial Intermediation,Banks&Banking Reform,Banking Law,Financial Intermediation,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Economic Theory&Research

A polyphonic acoustic vortex and its complementary chords

Using an annular phased array of eight loudspeakers, we generate sound beams that simultaneously contain phase singularities at a number of different frequencies. These frequencies correspond to different musical notes and the singularities can be set to overlap along the beam axis, creating a polyphonic acoustic vortex. Perturbing the drive amplitudes of the speakers means that the singularities no longer overlap, each note being nulled at a slightly different lateral position, where the volume of the other notes is now nonzero. The remaining notes form a tri-note chord. We contrast this acoustic phenomenon to the optical case where the perturbation of a white light vortex leads to a spectral spatial distribution

Correlation of AH-1G helicopter flight vibration data and tailboom static test data with NASTRAN analytical results

Level flight airframe vibration at main rotor excitation frequencies was calculated. A NASTRAN tailboom analysis was compared with test data for evaluation of methods used to determine effective skin in a semimonocoque sheet-stringer structure. The flight vibration correlation involved comparison of level flight vibration for two helicopter configurations: clean wing, at light gross weight and wing stores at heavy gross weight. In the tailboom correlation, deflections and internal loads were compared using static test data and a NASTRAN analysis. An iterative procedure was used to determine the amount of effective skin of buckled panels under compression load

Complete genome sequences of two feline Leukemia virus subgroup B isolates with novel recombination sites

It is generally accepted that all primary isolates of feline leukemia virus (FeLV) contain a subgroup A virus (FeLV-A) that is essential for transmission. In contrast, FeLV-B is thought to arise de novo in the infected animal through RNA recombination events with endogenous FeLV transcripts, presumably through copackaging of RNA from endogenous FeLV and exogenous FeLV-A. Here, we report the complete genome sequences of two novel strains of FeLV-B (FeLV-2518 and FeLV-4314) that were isolated in the absence of FeLV-A. The env genes of these isolates have been characterized previously, and the 3′ recombination sites have been identified. We describe herein the 5′ recombination breakpoints of each virus. These breakpoints were found to be within the signal peptide of the env gene and the reverse transcriptase-coding region, respectively. This is the first report of a recombination site within the pol gene of an FeLV-B genome and the first genetic characterization of multiple independently arising FeLV-B isolates that have been identified without a functional FeLV-A ancestral virus

Bank Capital and Portfolio Management: The 1930s "Capital Crunch" and the Scramble to Shed Risk

We model the trade“off between low“asset risk and low leverage to satisfy preferences for low“risk deposits and apply it to interwar New York City banks. During the 1920s, profitable lending and low costs of raising capital produced increased bank asset risk and increased capital, with no deposit risk change. Differences in the costs of raising equity explain differences in asset risk and capital ratios. In the 1930s, rising deposit default risk led to deposit withdrawals. In response, banks increased riskless assets and cut dividends. Banks with high default risk or high costs of raising equity contracted dividends the most

Deflation and Reflation: The Pre-WW I Impact on NYSE Trading Volumes and Seat Prices

The study analyzes a unique time period of sustained deflation from 1867 to 1896, followed by sustained reflation after 1896. We use these periods to test two hypotheses concerning the impact on NYSE trading volumes and seat prices. The first is the “liquidity-trading” hypothesis, which hypothesizes that liquidity trading, a component of total trading volume, is positively correlated with interest rates. The second is the price-volume relationship, which hypothesizes a positive relationship between stock prices returns and changes in trading volume. These hypotheses suggest that NYSE trading volume should fall (rise) with falling (rising) stock prices and interest rates. We find strong support for both hypotheses, and additionally show that the impact of stock market prices on trading volumes is highly asymmetrical. As well, the study argues and finds evidence that the high level of systematic risk found in the pricing of NYSE seats is another reflection of the price-volume relationship. Therefore, the study finds strong evidence of a link between deflation, reflation and market liquidity as reflected in trading volumes and the pricing of NYSE seats

Effectiveness of a Federal Healthy Start Program in Reducing Infant Mortality

Objective: Infant mortality is an important indicator of the health status of a community. In this analysis, we aimed to evaluate temporal changes in infant mortality rates (IMR) in the Central Hillsborough Healthy Start (CHHS) program service area in Tampa, Florida compared to rates in the rest of Hillsborough County and the state. Method: We conducted a five-year (2010-2014) trends analysis using birth and infant death data extracted from the Florida Community Health Assessment Resource Tool Set (CHARTS). The number of infant deaths and live births were used to calculate and compare IMRs in the CHHS catchment area to those in the rest of Hillsborough County, and the state of Florida. Three-year centered moving averages were directly adjusted to account for differences in the racial/ethnic distribution of mothers across geographic areas. Results: Between 2010 and 2014, the IMR decreased 42.8% in the CHHS service area (from 14.5 to 8.3 per 1,000 live births) compared to decreases of 10.1% and 7.7% in the rest of Hillsborough County and the state of Florida, respectively. Additionally, the infant mortality gap in the CHHS catchment area narrowed from 72% in 2010 to 14% in 2014 compared to the rest of the state, and was eliminated when compared to the rest of Hillsborough County. Discussion: The absolute and relative decreases in IMR in the CHHS catchment area reflect the program’s effectiveness in decreasing disparity in infant mortality. The quality services provided by the CHHS program have had a significant positive impact on the families served

Prototype Development of an Image Capturing Device for Field Use

Real-time ultrasound technology is now being used by many researchers and technicians for evaluating livestock composition, especially in beef and swine. The digitally captured ultrasound images are analyzed for fat thickness, ribeye crosssectional area, and percentage intramuscular fat (IMFAT). ISU researchers and ultrasound technicians have realized that the current method of capturing images using a regular portable PC has many problems including frequent failures in the field. ISU has developed a prototype device, called ÒBlackBoxÓ, that allows one to capture and store images in the field without frequent problems encountered with the regular PC. The primary goals of the design were to use minimal components and an easy to use software to capture images in the field. For field use, the BlackBox is a rugged unit with easy push-button operation. It will meet the demands of seedstock ultrasound scanning for later analysis by the technician or by a centralized processing center. It should also prove to be a useful tool for feedlot chute-side application