Is the Federal Home Loan Bank system good for banks? a look at evidence on membership, advances and risk

Since the early 1990s, commercial banks have turned to Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank) advances to plug the gap between loan and deposit growth. Is this trend worrisome? On the one hand, advances implicitly encourage risk by insulating borrowers from market discipline. On the other, advances give borrowers greater flexibility to managing interest rate and liquidity risk. And access to FHLBank funding encourages members to reshape their balance sheets in ways that could lower credit risk. Using quarterly financial and supervisory data for banks from 1992 to 2000, we assess the effect of FHLBank membership and advances on risk. The evidence suggests liquidity and leverage risks rose modestly, but interest-rate risk declined somewhat. Credit risk and overall failure risk were largely unaffected. Although the evidence suggest FHLBank membership and advances have had, at best, only a modest impact on bank risk, we caution that the 1990s constitute one observation and that moral hazard could be pronounced if leverage ratios revert to historical norms.Government-sponsored enterprises ; Federal home loan banks ; Bank liquidity

Phenolic Profile and Antioxidant Activity of Pulp and Peel from Peach and Nectarine Fruits

Peach (Prunus persica L.) is a fruit of high nutritional and economic value. Carbohydrates, dietary fibers, minerals and organic acids are among the major constituents of peach fruit, which contribute to the nutritional quality of both fresh fruits and juice. Polyphenolic compounds found in peach may play an important role in physiological functions related to human health. Different polyphenolics may have varied biological activities including antioxidant activity. In this study antioxidant characteristics between peel and pulp of different peach cultivars (‘RadmilovÄanka’, ‘June Gold’, ‘Blake’, ‘Hale’, ‘Vesna’, ‘Adria’) and one of nectarine (‘Fantasia’) were investigated. The peel and pulp extracts showed a huge amount of total phenolics (TP), total flavonoids (TF), total hydroxycinnamates (TH) and total flavonols (TFL), ranging from 42.7-211.4, 11.1-128.5 mg GAE/100 g fresh weight (f.w.) (TP), 21.9 -94.9, 5.0-58.9 mg CE/100 g f.w. (TF), 28.4-389.2, 8.5-165.8 mg kg-1 f.w. (TH) and 17.3-54 mg kg-1 f.w. (TFL). High contents of phenolic compounds were significantly correlated with high antioxidant capacities. Peach pulp and peel differ significantly in their phenolic profiles: the pulp contains mainly chlorogenic, neochlorogenic and p-coumaric acids, whereas the peel possesses chlorogenic, neochlorogenic and p-coumaric acids together with several flavonol glycosides in huge amounts. Our results indicate that cultivar and extraction solvent play important roles in phenolic compositions and antioxidant properties of peach and nectarine extracts, which was shown using statistical analysis (ANOVA). There are high correlations between extracted phenolic compounds and peach and nectarine cultivars, and used solvent and part of the fruit (peel and pulp)

Effects of Acute Administration of D,L-Homocysteine Thiolactone on the Antioxidative Status of Rat Intestine and Liver

Oxidative stress appears to play a role in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases. Increased homocysteine levels may play a role in the pathogenesis of Chrons disease and ulcerative colitis. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of homocysteine on the antioxidant status of rat intestine and liver. The levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), activity of catalase (CAT) and total antioxidant status (TAS) were investigated in the isolated gut and liver of young male rats in the control group (8 rats) and after 3-hour incubation in high doses of D, L-homocysteine thionolactone (Hcy) (10 mu mol/L) (8 rats). Samples of duodenum, ileum, colon and liver were homogenized in sodium phosphate buffer (1: 10). Homogenates were centrifuged at 10000 for 10 min at 4 degrees C and the supernatant was taken for biochemical assays. Our results showed that high D, L-homocysteine thionolactone concentration reduced enzymatic catalase activity in homogenates of the isolated segments of duodenum (27.04%) p LT 0.01; ileum (37.27%), colon (34.17%) and liver (67.46%) p LT 0.001. Exposition to high D, L-homocysteine thiolactone concentration significantly increased TBARS levels in the duodenum (106.05%), ileum (47.24%), colon (112.75%) and liver (32.07%) (p LT 0.01). Homocysteine also modified the total antioxidant status of homogenates from the duodenum, ileum, colon and liver, increasing by 20.68% (duodenum), 24.74% (ileum), 14.88% (colon) and 19.35% (liver) (p LT 0.001). Homocysteine induced a consistent oxidative stress in rats intestine and liver (reduced activity of catalase and increased level of TBARS), but the elevated activity of TAS in our experiments could be explained as an adaptive response to the generated free radicals which indicates the failure of the total antioxidant defense mechanism to protect the tissues from damage caused by homocysteine

Efekti mehanizovanog načina aplikacije tečnog startnog đubriva u proizvodnji kukuruza

Conventional corn production assumes usage of standard inorganic fertilizers which can be added to the soil by different methods. Unlike conventional production, this research was conducted with assumption that by using different application rates of basic and liquid starter fertilizers, as well as, with improved method of their application, higher yield values and lower moisture content of harvested kernels would be realized. This paper explored influence of mechanized application with different rates and ways of broadcasting basic and liquid starter fertilizer to the soil for corn production. Liquid starter fertilizers were applied concurrently with plantation in two ways: in lanes and spots individually for each plant. The results obtained show that kernel yield was higher in areas where starter fertilizer application was performed for 1.79 t•ha-1, while kernel moisture contents was 3.6% lower compared to results obtained over control surfaces.Konvencionalna proizvodnja kukuruza podrazumeva upotrebu standardnih mineralnih hraniva koja se u zemljiše mogu uneti na različite načine. Za razliku od konvencionalne proizvodnje, ova istraživanja su sprovedena uz predpostavku da će se primenom različitih normi osnovnih i tečnih startnih đubriva kao i unapređenim načinom njihove aplikacije ostvariti veće vrednosti prinosa i niži sadržaj vlage ubranog zrna. U radu je istraživan uticaj mehanizovane aplikacije različitih normi i načina unošenja osnovnog i tečnog startnog đubriva u zemljište pri proizvodnji merkantilnog kukuruza. Aplikacija tečnih startnih đubriva vršena je istovremeno sa setvom i to na dva načina: u trake i tačke pojedinačno za svaku biljku. Dobijeni rezultati pokazuju da je prinos zrna na površinama gde je vršena aplikacija startnog đubriva viši za 1,79 t•ha-1, dok je sadržaj vlažnosti zrna niži za 3,6% u odnosu na rezultate dobijene na kontrolnoj površini

Excessive credit growth or the catching up process: The case of central, eastern, and southeastern European countries

Most CESEE countries had an impressive credit growth prior to the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008. Nevertheless, that experience has taught us that the strong expansion of private sector credit must not be ignored. In an attempt to investigate whether the rapid credit growth was a result of the catching-up process or was a risky process with well-known consequences, we performed empirical analysis by applying statistical (HP filter) and econometric (pooled OLS, fixed effect OLS, and PMG) approaches. The empirical results of both out-of-sample and in-sample approaches suggest that in the pre-crisis period excessive credit growth in terms of higher actual than estimated credit growth was recorded for the majority of the countries observed. Compared to the out of-sample approach, in-sample estimates, which turned out to be more reliable, indicate that the pre-crisis growth was less pronounced and that over the post-crisis period actual credit growth fluctuated around the estimated growth, pointing to the fact that the former was in line with movements in its fitted values