The Efficiency of Self-Regulated Payments Systems: Learning From the Suffolk System

This paper analyzes the operation of the Suffolk System, an interbank note-clearing network operating throughout New England from the 1820s through the 1850s. Banks made markets in each other's notes at par, which allowed New England to avoid discounting of bank notes in trade. Privately enforced regu- lations prevented free riding in the form of excessive risk taking. Observers of the Suffolk System have been divided. Some emphasized the stability and effi these arrangements. Others argued that the arrangements were motivated by rent-seeking on the part of Boston banks, and were primarily coervice and exploitative. In the neighboring Mid-Atlantic states, regulations limited the potential for developing a regional clearing system centered in New York City on the model of the Suffolk System. This difference makes it possible to compare the performance of banks across regulatory regimes to judge the relative merits of the sanguine and jaundiced views of the Suffolk System. Evidence supports the sanguine view. New England's banks were able to issue more notes and these notes traded at uniform and low discount rates compared to those of other banks. An examination of the balance sheets and stock returns of Boston and New York City banks indicates that the stock market perceived that bank lending produced less risk for bank debt holders in Boston than in New York. The benefits of the system extended outside of Boston. Peripheral New England banks displayed high propensities to issue notes, and wer able to maintain low specie reserves. Boston banks did not show high profit rates or high ratios of market-to-book values of equity; thus there is no evidence that Boston banks extracted rents from their control of the payments system.

Earth's gravity field mapping requirements and concept

A future sensor is considered for mapping the Earth's gravity field to meet future scientific and practical requirements for earth and oceanic dynamics. These are approximately + or - 0.1 to 10 mgal over a block size of about 50 km and over land and an ocean geoid to 1 to 2 cm over a distance of about 50 km. To achieve these values requires a gravity gradiometer with a sensitivity of approximately 10 to the -4 power EU in a circular polar orbiting spacecraft with an orbital altitude ranging 160 km to 180 km

International Trade in Used Vehicles: The Environmental Consequences of NAFTA

Previous studies of trade and the environment overwhelmingly focus on how trade affects where goods are produced. However, trade also affects where goods are consumed. In this paper we describe a model of trade with durable goods and non-chomothetic preferences. In autarky, used goods are relatively inexpensive in high-income countries and free trade causes these goods to be exported to low-income countries. We then evaluate the environmental consequences of this pattern of trade using evidence from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since trade restrictions were eliminated in 2005, over 2.5 million used cars have been exported from the United States to Mexico. Using a unique, vehicle-level dataset, we find that traded vehicles are dirtier than the stock of vehicles in the United States and cleaner than the stock in Mexico, so trade leads average vehicle emissions to decrease in both countries. Total greenhouse gas emissions increase, primarily because trade gives new life to vehicles that otherwise would have been scrapped.trade, environment, NAFTA, consequences

Signal analysis and error analysis studies for a Geopotential Research Mission (GRM)

The signal characteristics and the geopotential parameter recovery capability of the SST Doppler sensor flown on the geopotential research mission (GRM) are discussed. Simulation studies of the velocity profiles resulting from the perturbation produced by a 1 deg/w/1 deg, 1 mgal anomaly as sensed by two GRM spacecraft orbiting altitudes of 160 km and 200 km respectively are described. It was found that the amplitude of the gravity signal drops off by a factor of 1.5 when going from an altitude of 160 km to 200 km. By extrapolation the signal amplitude is further decreased by a factor of 3 when the orbital altitude is increased to 250 km. Thus the amplitude of the measurement drops off as the altitude is increased to the point where it is insignificant at the 1 mgal level for altitudes above 200 km. Spectral analysis results show that for a GRM mission altitude of 160 km and a system precision of 1 micrometer/sec, gravity field information can be sensed up to 230 cycles per orbital revolution - beyond that frequency the gravity signal is characterized by white noise. It follows that at the GRM mission altitude of 160 km and a satellite to satellite Doppler system precision of 1 micrometer per second, 1/1 deg gravity and geoid anomalies can be determined to an accuracy of 3.4 mgals and 8.6 cm respectively

Tracking productivity in real time

Because volatile short-term movements in productivity growth obscure the underlying trend, shifts in this trend may go unrecognized for years - a lag that can lead to policy mistakes and hence economic instability. This study develops a model for tracking productivity that brings in additional variables to help reveal the trend. The model's success is evident in its ability to detect changes in trend productivity within a year or two of their occurrence. Currently, the model indicates that the underlying trend remains strong despite recent weak productivity data.Industrial productivity - Measurement ; Economic policy ; Econometric models

Geodynamics Branch research report, 1982

The research program of the Geodynamics Branch is summarized. The research activities cover a broad spectrum of geoscience disciplines including space geodesy, geopotential field modeling, tectonophysics, and dynamic oceanography. The NASA programs which are supported by the work described include the Geodynamics and Ocean Programs, the Crustal Dynamics Project, the proposed Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX) and Geopotential Research Mission. The individual papers are grouped into chapters on Crustal Movements, Global Earth Dynamics, Gravity Field Model Development, Sea Surface Topography, and Advanced Studies

Long and short arc altitude determination for GEOS-C

The accuracy with which the GEOS-C altitude may be estimated over long (7 day) and short (40 minute) orbital arcs is investigated. Over the long are excellent agreement was attained between a simulation of the orbit determination process and a covariance analysis. Both approaches yielded RMS altitude errors of about 1.5 meters over the Caribbean calibration area and approximately 7.5 meters overall. The geopotential was identified as the largest error source. For the short arc, the covariance analysis revealed that the propagated altitude error is linearly dependent upon station survey component errors which are also the largest source of altitude errors. An Appendix contains the mathematics of covariance analysis as applied to orbit determination

Ocean gravity and geoid determination

Gravity anomalies have been recovered in the North Atlantic and the Indian Ocean regions. Comparisons of 63 2 deg x 2 deg mean free air gravity anomalies recovered in the North Atlantic area and 24 5 deg x 5 deg mean free air gravity anomalies in the Indian Ocean area with surface gravimetric measurements have shown agreement to + or - 8 mgals for both solutions. Geoids derived from the altimeter solutions are consistent with altimetric sea surface height data to within the precision of the data, about + or - 2 meters