Plant Studies in Lyon County, Iowa

The subject of this paper is one of a series of ecological studies carried on by the author during the last few years, and is a study of a part of the region, consisting chiefly of high prairie, in the northwestern part of the state, the tract considered covering a part of the southwest corner of Lyon County, which is the northwesternmost county in Iowa

Comparison of Field and Forest Floras in Monona County, Iowa

The purpose of this paper is to present some of the results obtained in a study made of the field and forest floras of St. Clair Township, Monona County, which indicate the close relations existing between the floras of the most extreme types of plant habitat found in Iowa

'Trust is good, control is better': the 1974 Herstatt-Bank crisis and its implications for international regulatory reform

With its international supervisory and regulatory implications, the failure of Bankhaus Herstatt is one of the landmarks of post-war financial history. This article offers the first comprehensive historical account of the Herstatt crisis, and contributes to the wider discussions on international supervisory and regulatory reform since the mid-1970s, including regulatory capture, markets' self-regulation and resolution of failed banks. In doing so, it first argues that contrary to a widely held view, the German authorities received early and repeated warnings about Herstatt's dealings but this involved only limited and ineffective regulatory/supervisory responses, then it turns to the actual collapse of the bank in June 1974, and finally explores the wider regulatory issues raised by the Herstatt case

Regulating financial conglomerates

We investigate the optimal regulation of financial conglomerates which combine a bank and a non-bank financial institution. The conglomerate’s risk-taking incentives depend upon the level of market discipline it faces, which in turn is determined by the conglomerate’s liability structure. We examine optimal capital requirements for stand-alone institutions, for integrated financial conglomerates, and for financial conglomerates that are structured as holding companies. For a given risk profile, integrated conglomerates have a lower probability of failure than either their stand-alone or decentralized equivalent. However, when risk profiles are endogenously selected, conglomeration may extend the reach of the deposit insurance safety net and hence provide incentives for increased risk-taking. As a result, integrated conglomerates may optimally attract higher capital requirements. In contrast, decentralised conglomerates are able to hold assets in the socially most efficient place. Their optimal capital requirements encourage this. Hence, the practice of “regulatory arbitrage”, or of transferring assets from one balance sheet to another, is welfare-increasing. We discuss the policy implications of our finding in the context not only of the present debate on the regulation of financial conglomerates but also in the light of existing US bank holding company regulation

Climate risks are real and need to become part of bank capital regulation

Climate risks are building up on banks’ balance sheets. Supervisory reviews show that banks are not well prepared. Yet, supervisors have been slow to include climate risks in minimum capital requirements. This column argues that doing so would speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy. Given the urgency of addressing the environmental risks that are now largely not accounted for, speed is of the essence

Variation in Evaporation in Limited Areas

During a study made at the Macbride Lakeside Laboratory in the summer of 1913 a series of observation stations were set up on the hill known as Twin Mounds, on the south shore of East Okoboji lake. This hill rises from the lake front to a height of about 100 feet and has a dense growth of timber on the protected face of its north slope. The top is bare of trees, as also is the entire south slope, which is exposed to the prevailing southwest winds of summer. Seven stations were arranged, located as follows: one on the summit of the hill, and three at equal distances down each of the two sides of the hill. At these stations there were made observations of the evaporation, using both pan and Pische evaporimeters; of the direction of the wind and its velocity, as measured by two standard types of anemometers; of the relative humidity of the air, as indicated by sling psychrometers; of the percentage of sky cloudiness, and of other factors that might influence the local flora