Debit card interchange fees generally lead to cash-promoting cross-subsidisation

Cards and cash are competing payment instruments at point-of-sale. The twosided market platform theory, based on general benefit assumptions, supports the use of multilateral interchange fees for card payments as a means of promoting the use of cards. However, analysis of the issue from the concrete processing cost viewpoint leads to the opposite conclusion: collection of debit card interchange fees by issuers results in subsidisation of cash and so actually promotes the use of cash instead of cards. Banks use card interchange revenues to cover cash distribution costs. For merchants, interchange fees increase payment costs and thus reduce the possibilities to pass through to customers the cost savings flowing from card efficiency. Moreover, because of high merchant fees due to high interchange fees, merchants are also more reluctant to accept payment cards. An MIF based on the tourist level approach will result in all parties being indifferent between cash and cards and thereby delay the realisation of the cost benefits of increased debit card usage. The resent actions of authorities to increase transparency and reduce cross-subsidisation seem to point in the right direction – towards more efficient resource allocation in payments.interchange fee; cross-subsidies in payments

Use of context in question answering by 3,4 and 5 year old children

Peer reviewe

Lay-down working cart improves efficacy of hand weeding

Manual weed control is often the major limiting factor for organic vegetable production on a farm level. We have developed a Crawler, a wagon designed to support and transport a worker on the field

Optimizing Liquidity Usage and Settlement Speed in Payment Systems

The operating speed of a payment system depends on the stage of technology of the system's communication and information processing environment. Frequent intraday processing cycles and real-time processing have introduced new means of speeding up the processing and settlement of payments. In a real-time environment banks face new challenges in liquidity management. They need to plan for intraday as well as interday fluctuations in liquidity. By employing various types of hybrid settlement structures, banks may be able to even out intraday fluctuations in liquidity demand. The aim of this study is to develop a framework for analysing fluctuations in liquidity demand and assessing the efficiency of different settlement systems in terms of speed and liquidity needs. In this study we quantify the relationship between liquidity usage and settlement delay in net settlement systems, real-time gross settlement systems and hybrid systems, as well as the combined costs of liquidity and delay in these systems. We analyse ways of reducing costs via optimization features such as netting of queues, offsetting of payments and splitting of payments. We employ a payment system simulator developed at the Bank of Finland, which enables us to evaluate the impact of changes in system parameters and thus to compare the effects of alternative settlement schemes with given payment flows. The data used covers 100 days of actual payments processed in the Finnish BoF-RTGS system. Our major findings relate to risk reduction via real-time settlement, effects of optimization routines in hybrid systems, and the effects of liquidity costs on banks' choice of settlement speed. A system where settlement takes place continuously in real-time and with queuing features is more efficient from the perspective of liquidity and risks than a net settlement system with batch processing. Real-time processing enables a reduction in payment delay and risks without necessarily increasing liquidity needs. Participants will operate under immediate payment/settlement if liquidity costs are low enough relative to delay costs and if the liquidity arrangements are sufficiently flexible. The central bank can therefore support risk reduction and payment speed objectives by providing low cost intraday liquidity as well as more flexible ways for participants to add or withdraw liquidity from the system. Optimizing and gridlock solving features were found to be effective at very low levels of liquidity. The efficiency of the different optimization methods for settlement systems are affected by the actual flow of payments processed. Gains from netting schemes with multiple daily netting cycles were found to be somewhat more limited.payment systems; clearing/settlement; liquidity; efficiency; gridlock

Simulating interbank payment and securities settlement mechanisms with the BoF-PSS2 simulator

The simulation technique provides a new means for analysing complex interdependencies in payment and securities settlement processing. The Bank of Finland has developed a payment and settlement system simulator (BoF-PSS2) that can be used for constructing simulation models of payment and securities settlement systems. This paper describes the main elements of payment and settlement systems (system structures, interdependencies, processing steps, liquidity consumption, cost and risk dimensions) and how these can be treated in simulation studies. It gives also examples on how these elements have been incorporated in the simulator, as well as an overview of the structure and the features of the BoF-PSS2 simulator.simulations; simulator; payment systems; clearing/settlement; liquidity

Clover content and yield of swards on organic farms - maintenance and estimation

Grassland production based on legumes is an essential part of the productivity and economy of the organic farming systems. The clover content is an important factor in organic grassland management to optimize the yield, feed value and pre-crop effect of ley. The ley yield and clover content of one-, two- and three-year-old leys were determined on eight organic farms in 1998. Two-year-old leys produced the highest (6500 kg/ha dm) and three-year-old leys (4900 kg/ha dm) the lowest yields, with no significant differences between one- and two-year-old leys. The clover content (20-80 % of dm) diminished to the same extent as the yields. Because the ley samples from the organic farms gave strong evidence of decreasing yield level and clover content in the 3-year-old leys, we started to develop a technique to maintain the ley productivity in older swards. This technique includes oversowing of clover in the spring of the second ley year and utilization of lime-pelleted, pre-inoculated seed. Lime-pelleted, pre-inoculated clover seed oversown at different times in spring were compared with the aim of developing an oversowing method for Finnish conditions. The preliminary results do not show any differences, but studies are ongoing

Preliminary evaluation of annually cultivated forage legumes for organic farming in Finland

In 1998-2001 nineteen forage legume species (Lupinus, Medicago, Melilotus, Pisum, Trifolium and Vicia species) were evaluated at two sites of Eastern Finland (Mikkeli and Juva). Species were studied for their annual productivity in pure stands and in mixtures with cereals (barley and oats) and Italian ryegrass. Swards were cut either twice or once (whole grain silage stage of barley)

Preliminary evaluation of perennial forage legumes for organic farming in Finland

In 1998-2001 fourteen forage legume species were evaluated for their productivity in mixed organic swards. The aim was to find new alternatives for red clover. Medicago falcata produced the highest dry matter yield (about 11 000 kg/ha/year). Dry matter production of Trifolium pratense, Trifolium hybridum and Medicago sativa varied from 2 200 to 10 600 kg/ha/year

Management of red clover content of organic grassland

The clover content is an important factor in organic grassland management to optimize yield, feeding value and pre-crop effect of the ley. The variation of red clover (Trifolium pratense) content in swards of different age is often rather high in Finland. In the ongoing field experiment (1999-2002) staggered sowing of red clover seed was tested to regulate the clover content of the mixed sward. Sowing strategy did not have clear effect on the clover content or the yield of the sward. However the seeding rate affected the clover density of the field (plants/m²) in the first year. After two years the differences were equated. The best strategy to control the clover amount in the mixed swards seems sowing of 2 or 3 kg/ha (100 or 150 seeds/m²) clover seeds in establishment and then oversow on a first second ley year 1 or 2 kg/ha (50 or 100 seeds/m²)

Top jets as a probe of degenerate stop-NLSP LSP scenario in the framework of cMSSM

The degenerate stop NLSP and neutralino LSP scenario is well motivated but hard to detect at the collider experiments. We propose a novel signature for detection this scenario at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and demonstrate its feasibility.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure