EFFECTS OF BANKING STRUCTURE ON THE ALLOCATION OF CREDIT TO NONMETROPOLITAN COMMUNITIES

Recent and proposed legislative changes encourage increases in multioffice banking activity. In this manuscript, the allocation of credit to nonmetropolitan communities in a branch banking state (Arizona) is compared to that in a unit banking-holding company state (Colorado). Rapidly growing nonmetropolitan areas have experienced increased lending activity under statewide branching relative to unit banking. Rural communities, which experienced slow or negative growth, had lower loan-to-deposit rations under branch banking than might have existed under unit banking. Therefore, conversion to branch banking may result in a reallocation of loanable funds within nonmetropolitan areas.Financial Economics,

Decreases in Community Viral Load Are Accompanied by Reductions in New HIV Infections in San Francisco

BACKGROUND: At the individual level, higher HIV viral load predicts sexual transmission risk. We evaluated San Francisco's community viral load (CVL) as a population level marker of HIV transmission risk. We hypothesized that the decrease in CVL in San Francisco from 2004-2008, corresponding with increased rates of HIV testing, antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage and effectiveness, and population-level virologic suppression, would be associated with a reduction in new HIV infections. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We used San Francisco's HIV/AIDS surveillance system to examine the trends in CVL. Mean CVL was calculated as the mean of the most recent viral load of all reported HIV-positive individuals in a particular community. Total CVL was defined as the sum of the most recent viral loads of all HIV-positive individuals in a particular community. We used Poisson models with robust standard errors to assess the relationships between the mean and total CVL and the primary outcome: annual numbers of newly diagnosed HIV cases. Both mean and total CVL decreased from 2004-2008 and were accompanied by decreases in new HIV diagnoses from 798 (2004) to 434 (2008). The mean (p = 0.003) and total CVL (p = 0.002) were significantly associated with new HIV cases from 2004-2008. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Reductions in CVL are associated with decreased HIV infections. Results suggest that wide-scale ART could reduce HIV transmission at the population level. Because CVL is temporally upstream of new HIV infections, jurisdictions should consider adding CVL to routine HIV surveillance to track the epidemic, allocate resources, and to evaluate the effectiveness of HIV prevention and treatment efforts

Will Branch Banking Increase Credit and Competition in Rural Communities?

Neither branch banking nor unit banking offers clearly better service to rural areas. Branch banks (one bank, many offices) seem more competitive than unit banks and may make a higher proportion of their assets available for loans. Unit banks (one bank, one office) may be more attuned to the special needs of their areas. Contrasting situations in Arizona and Colorado are examined

EFFECTS OF BANKING STRUCTURE ON THE ALLOCATION OF CREDIT TO NONMETROPOLITAN COMMUNITIES

Recent and proposed legislative changes encourage increases in multioffice banking activity. In this manuscript, the allocation of credit to nonmetropolitan communities in a branch banking state (Arizona) is compared to that in a unit banking-holding company state (Colorado). Rapidly growing nonmetropolitan areas have experienced increased lending activity under statewide branching relative to unit banking. Rural communities, which experienced slow or negative growth, had lower loan-to-deposit rations under branch banking than might have existed under unit banking. Therefore, conversion to branch banking may result in a reallocation of loanable funds within nonmetropolitan areas

E Pluribus Unum? Authorities' Design in Financial Supervision: Trends and Determinants

This paper presents an analysis of recent trends and determinants in the architectures of financial supervision, focused on the authorities design. We propose a path dependence approach to study the single authority versus multi-authority dilemma, considering the level of financial supervision consolidation as the dependent variable. In particular, in a movement towards full consolidation in supervision, one can think of two sharp alternatives: a monopolist central bank or a pure single financial authority. Given that the degree of supervision consolidation seems to be inversely correlated with central bank involvement in supervision itself, the paper sheds light on the possible explanation of this trade-off. The trade off is tested using Probit techniques with a sample of 68 countries. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2006financial supervision, single authority, central bank,