Financial deregulation, monetary policy, and central banking

The paper analyzes the need for financial regulations in the implementation of central bank policy. It emphasizes that a central bank serves two functions. Central banks function as monetary authorities, managing high-powered money to influence the price level and real activity; and they engage in regular and emergency lending to financial institutions. The authors term these functions monetary and banking policies, respectively. They emphasize that regulations are not essential for the execution of monetary policy because high-powered money can be managed with open market operations in government bonds. By its very nature, however, banking policy involves a swap of government securities for claims on individual banks. Just as private lenders must restrict and monitor individual borrowers, a central bank must regulate and supervise the institutions that borrow from it. Virtually all economists agree that there is an important role for monetary policy to stabilize prices and real activity. Banking policy has been rationalized as a source of funds for temporarily illiquid but solvent banks. To assess that rationale, the authors develop the distinction between illiquidity and insolvency in detail, showing the distinction to be meaningful precisely because information about the value of bank assets is incomplete and costly to obtain. Nevertheless, they explain why the cost of information per se cannot rationalize banking policy. On the basis of such considerations, they find it difficult to make a case for banking policy and the regulatory and supervisory activities that support it.Bank supervision ; Monetary policy ; Banks and banking, Central

Financial deregulation, monetary policy, and central banking

The paper analyzes the need for financial regulations in the implementation of central bank policy. It emphasizes that a central bank serves two functions. Central banks function as monetary authorities, managing high-powered money to influence the price level and real activity; and they engage in regular and emergency lending to financial institutions. The authors term these functions monetary and banking policies, respectively. They emphasize that regulations are not essential for the execution of monetary policy because high-powered money can be managed with open market operations in government bonds. By its very nature, however, banking policy involves a swap of government securities for claims on individual banks. Just as private lenders must restrict and monitor individual borrowers, a central bank must regulate and supervise the institutions that borrow from it. Virtually all economists agree that there is an important role for monetary policy to stabilize prices and real activity. Banking policy has been rationalized as a source of funds for temporarily illiquid but solvent banks. To assess that rationale, the authors develop the distinction between illiquidity and insolvency in detail, showing the distinction to be meaningful precisely because information about the value of bank assets is incomplete and costly to obtain. Nevertheless, they explain why the cost of information per se cannot rationalize banking policy. On the basis of such considerations, they find it difficult to make a case for banking policy and the regulatory and supervisory activities that support it.Bank supervision ; Monetary policy ; Banks and banking, Central

Optimization techniques applied to passive measures for in-orbit spacecraft survivability

Spacecraft designers have always been concerned about the effects of meteoroid impacts on mission safety. The engineering solution to this problem has generally been to erect a bumper or shield placed outboard from the spacecraft wall to disrupt/deflect the incoming projectiles. Spacecraft designers have a number of tools at their disposal to aid in the design process. These include hypervelocity impact testing, analytic impact predictors, and hydrodynamic codes. Analytic impact predictors generally provide the best quick-look estimate of design tradeoffs. The most complete way to determine the characteristics of an analytic impact predictor is through optimization of the protective structures design problem formulated with the predictor of interest. Space Station Freedom protective structures design insight is provided through the coupling of design/material requirements, hypervelocity impact phenomenology, meteoroid and space debris environment sensitivities, optimization techniques and operations research strategies, and mission scenarios. Major results are presented

Physical Properties of The Ternary System: Ethylene Glycol - Disthylene Glycol - Water

Since approximately two-thirds (12) of the energy from the fuel in automobile engines is converted to unusable heat, it is necessary that a method of cooling the engines be provided. In most present-day engines of this type, an indirect method is utilized, namely, the transfer of heat to a liquid and t hence from the liquid to the surrounding air by means of radiators . Water is universally used for the coolant liquid because of its availability and high heat transfer properties. However, water has its limitations. A significant limitation of water as a coolant is its corrosive action causing rust clogging and metal perforation . Water is a very stable compound, but it attacks certain cooling system metals vigorously under the influence of heat and aeration. Even more significant than these is its high freezing point. Ever since the automobile reached the point of perfection that made it usable in the colder seasons of the year, men have been searching for coolants with freezing points lower than that of water and possessing the desirable coolant characteristics of water . In addition to an adequately lower freezing point , it is a necessary requirement that an antifreeze does not impart undesirable properties that would interfere with cooling engines efficiently. It is also highly desirable that the substance reduce the corrosive tendency

A test of the external validity of focus group findings using survey research and statistical inference

It is observed that the focus group or group depth interview is agreed to be a strictly qualitative methodology. Sampling is not random and any participant may contribute disproportionately and introduce bias. Therefore, results of focus group research are not externally valid and should not be used to make inferences to the population from which the focus group is recruited.;It is also observed that, in practice, inference of focus group findings is commonplace and that strict adherence to the proscription against generalization would seriously reduce the current utility of the focus group as a method of inquiry.;A technique for evaluating the external validity of focus group findings was developed. This was accomplished using confirmatory survey research and accepted methods of statistical inference to test the findings of focus group research for agreement with survey research findings. An empirical test was conducted on 33 findings from focus group research within a specified population. Twenty-seven of these findings are in significant agreement, four are in significant disagreement, and two are inconclusive.;Continued skepticism about the external validity of focus group findings is recommended. Suggestions for improving the generalizability of focus group findings are offered, and continued empirical testing is proposed

A study of some life testing distributions

This dissertation is presented in publication form and consists of three articles. The first article considers a new life-testing distribution which has the property of possessing a failure rate function which can be U-shaped or exponentially increasing depending on the value of the shape parameter. In addition, this article considers generalized least squares type estimators for location-scale distributions, then uses these estimators in the analysis of the exponential-power distribution. Tables are provided for which inferences on the location and scale parameters and on the reliability can be obtained. The second article gives relationships between a goodness-of-fit statistic based on a correlation coefficient and some well known and powerful goodness-of-fit statistics. Tables of critical values are given for complete and censored samples when the hypothesis to be tested is completely specified or when the composite hypothesis of normality or exponentiality is to be tested. The third article gives some results on simple, closed form estimators for the Weibull or extreme-value distribution. Tables of critical values are also provided here for making inferences on the location parameter and on reliability --Abstract, page iii

Evaluation Of Present Day Treatment Of Peptic Ulcer

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111139/1/j.1532-5415.1953.tb01110.x.pd