"Don't panic": a primer on airline deregulation

A summary of the theory behind airline deregulation, and a look at the future evolution of the airline industry as it adapts to its new environment.Airlines ; Industrial policy

A beginner's guide to the U.S. payments system

A description of the U.S. payments system, outlining its evolution and examining some of the areas where improvements are needed.Payment systems

Unbalanced growth and the U.S. productivity slowdown

An explanation of the slower trend rate of U.S. productivity growth in the past two decades as a natural response to unbalanced growth, whereby resources are shifted from sectors with high productivity growth rates to those with lower rates, such as the rapidly expanding service sector.Productivity

TFP growth, change in efficiency, and technological progress in the U. S. airline industry: 1970 to 1981

An overview of the airline industry's early adaptations to deregulation using a best-practice cost function approach; measures cost efficiency and changes in total factor productivity growth for airlines in the 1970s and early 1980s and discusses how these findings relate to individual airline performance.Airlines ; Airline Deregulation Act of 1978

Consumer financial privacy and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

By requiring financial institutions to put adequate controls in place to secure consumers’ confidential data and by clearly spelling out what rights consumers and financial institutions have, the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is a positive step toward ensuring consumer financial privacy. If there are no market imperfections, then competition may be relied on to efficiently sort out the competing interests of consumers and financial institutions. Alternatively, if there are market imperfections in the form of externalities, the Coase theorem suggests that the act, by clearly assigning property rights to the information, should facilitate an economically efficient outcome.Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ; Consumer protection

What you should know about identity theft

Identity theft—appropriating someone else’s identity for illicit gain—is the fastest-growing financial crime. It can cause considerable financial losses, and cleaning up a trashed credit history can be time consuming and frustrating. This Economic Commentary examines the identity theft phenomenon—how it works, how lawmakers, regulators, and financial institutions are combating it, and what consumers can do to protect themselves.Consumer protection

Airline hubs: a study of determining factors & effects

A study of the determinants that influence where airlines establish hubs in the hub-and-spoke networks that developed in the industry, with identification of the quantitative effects of these determinants.Airlines ; Airline Deregulation Act of 1978

When is checkout time?

The death of paper checks has been predicted since the 1960s, but only recently has their use begun to decline. The end may be near, though, as two forces accelerate the trend away from checks: the growing acceptance of electronic payment instruments and the passage of legislation designed to reduce our reliance on paper checks.Checks ; Payment systems

A reexamination of the relationship between capacity utilization and inflation

A review of the theoretical and empirical relationship between capacity utilization and inflation, employing a two-equation structural model that does not suffer from simultaneity bias and that appears to be stable over time.Industrial capacity ; Inflation (Finance)

Efficiency and technical progress in check processing

An examination of the cost of providing check-processing services at 47 Federal Reserve offices between 1983:1Q and 1990:IVQ, demonstrating how the Fed's unit cost measures can be decomposed into separate effects related to differences in cost efficiency, output mix, input prices, and environmental variables.Checks ; Payment systems