257 research outputs found
Community bank performance in the presence of county economic shocks
No full textA potentially troubling characteristic of the U.S. banking industry is the geographic concentration of many community banks* offices and operations. If geographic concentration of operations exposes banks to local market risk, we should observe a widespread decline in their financial performance following adverse economic shocks. By analyzing the performance of a sample of geographically concentrated U.S. community banks exposed to severe unemployment shocks in the 1990s, we find that banks are not particularly sensitive to local economic deterioration. Indeed, performance at banks in counties that suffered economic shocks is not statistically different from performance at banks that did not suffer economic shocks. These findings suggest that an additional supervisory tax such as higher capital requirements on banks with geographically concentrated operations is unwarranted. They also suggest that such banks are unlikely to reduce risk significantly through geographic expansion. Finally, bank supervisors should not rely systematically on county-level labor data to forecast or even to explain contemporaneous community bank performance. Rising county-level unemployment rates are consistent with both healthy and deteriorating bank performance.Community banks ; Regional economics
Are the causes of bank distress changing? can researchers keep up?
No full textSince 1990, the banking sector has experienced enormous legislative, technological, and financial changes, yet research into the causes of bank distress has slowed. One consequence is that traditional supervisory surveillance models may not capture important risks inherent in the current banking environment. After reviewing the history of these models, the authors provide empirical evidence that the characteristics of failing banks have changed in the past ten years and argue that the time is right for new research that employs new empirical techniques. In particular, dynamic models that use forward-looking variables and address various types of bank risk individually are promising lines of inquiry. Supervisory agencies have begun to move in these directions, and the authors describe several examples of this new generation of early-warning models that are not yet widely known among academic banking economists.Bank supervision ; Risk management
The demise of community banks? local economic shocks aren't to blame
No full textA potentially troubling characteristic of the U.S. banking industry is the geographic concentration of many community banks* offices and operations. If geographic concentration of operations exposes banks to local market risk, we should observe a widespread decline in their financial performance following adverse local economic shocks. In addition, geographic diversification should help banks reduce risk significantly. By analyzing the performance of geographically concentrated U.S. community banks exposed to severe unemployment shocks in the 1990s, I find that banks are not systematically vulnerable to local economic deterioration. Indeed, differences in performance at banks in counties that suffered economic shocks relative to those that did not suffer economic shocks are either statistically insignificant or economically small. These findings suggest that banks are unlikely to engage in mergers and acquisitions primarily to reduce local market risk because that risk source is already low. This result bodes well for the continued existence of geographically concentrated community banks, though scale and scope economies will continue to reduce their numbers relative to larger banks.Community banks ; Regional economics
Economies of integration in banking: an application of the survivor principle
No full textDespite the growing concentration of U.S. banking assets in mega-banks, most academic research finds that scale and scope economies are small. I apply the survivor principle to the banking industry between 1984 and 2002 and find that the so-called economies of integration are significant. These results hold after accounting for off-balance- sheet activities and after replicating the results at the holding company level. Regression analysis reveals that deregulation of branching restrictions, especially at the state level, played a significant role in allowing banks to exploit these economies. The results also suggest that, although the absolute number of community banks will decrease over time, community banks of all sizes will remain viable in the future. A likely explanation for the paradox of significant economies of integration and small estimated cost economies is that the size benefits to a bank come from sources other than cost efficiencies.Financial institutions ; Banks and banking
Is the Federal Home Loan Bank system good for banks? a look at evidence on membership, advances and risk
No full textSince 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
Alice Miel and Democratic Schooling: An Early Curriculum Leader\u27s Ideas on Social Learning and Social Studies
No full textAlice Miel, a nationally prominent curriculum development scholar-practitioner at Teachers College of Columbia University for some three decades (1942-1971), frequently has been overlooked in research on the nature and evolution of the curriculum field and the progressive education movement. Furthermore, her contributions have been overlooked even as attention to women in the curriculum field and in educational history has risen. This study addresses this oversight.
Miel became a leading figure in the curriculum field largely on the basis of her progressive-era advocacy and practice of democratic social learning as a primary goal of schooling in the United States. This study explores major influences on her ideas, her understandings of democratic concepts and principles, and her application of these concepts and principles both in her own college classroom and in her research on childhood education. It also explores Miel\u27s notions of the elementary school social studies :urriculum and situates those notions within the context of the conventional wisdom of her day regarding a discipline-centered curriculum.
In a broader context, this study contributes to the body of curriculum history scholarship. According to Kliebard (1992), for example, curriculum history often deals with the relationship between social change and changing ideas and contains significant social and cultural artifacts of knowledge that have become embodied in the curriculum of schools. Davis (1976, 1977) characterizes curriculum history as a reflective enterprise for curriculum workers that contributes to their understanding of present courses of study and of the professional field by lending a framework for thoughtful deliberation of what the schools should teach. With these observations in mind, Miel\u27s work may be understood as both artifact of curriculum history and as mindful reflection, situated within a particular social and historical context, on democratic meanings and processes. Biographies of Caswell, Taba, Tyler, Schwab, Kilpatrick, Rugg, Bobbitt, Zirbes, Stratemeyer, and others have yielded significant insights. In addition, Seguel\u27s study of early curriculum leaders (1966) constitutes an important theoretical contribution to the field. The study of Miel\u27s life and work adds to this body of knowledge
Are small rural banks vulnerable to local economic downturns?
No full textA potentially troubling characteristic of the U.S. banking industry is the geographic concentration of many banks’ offices and operations. Historically, banking laws have prevented U.S. banks from branching into other counties and states. A potential adverse consequence of these regulations was to leave banks—especially small rural banks—vulnerable to local economic downturns. If geographic concentration of bank offices leaves banks vulnerable to local economic downturns, we should observe a significant correlation between bank performance and the local economy. Looking at Eighth District banks, however, we find little connection between the dispersion of a bank’s offices and its ability to insulate itself from localized economic shocks. County-level economic data are weakly correlated with bank performance. Two policy implications follow from this finding. First, a priori, little justification exists for imposing more stringent regulatory requirements on banks with geographically concentrated operations than on other banks. Second, county-level labor and income data do not appear to be systematically useful in the bank supervision process.Rural areas ; Banks and banking ; Economic conditions - United States
Methodology for ion neutralization at solid/electrolyte interfaces
No full textPT: J; CR: ADELMAN SA, 1974, J CHEM PHYS, V61, P4242 ADELMAN SA, 1975, J CHEM PHYS, V62, P4908 ADELMAN SA, 1976, J CHEM PHYS, V64, P2375 ANDERSON PW, 1961, PHYS REV, V124, P41 BLANDIN A, 1976, J PHYSIQUE, V37, P369 BLOSS W, 1978, SURF SCI, V72, P277 BOCKRIS JOM, 1963, P ROY SOC LOND A MAT, V274, P55 BRAKO R, 1981, SURF SCI, V108, P253 BRAKO R, 1984, PHYS REV B, V30, P5629 BRAKO R, 1985, PHYS SCR, V32, P451 BRAKO R, 1985, SOLID STATE COMMUN, V55, P633 CHAMBERS LG, 1976, INTEGRAL EQUATIONS S, P114 CIZEK J, 1969, ADV CHEM PHYS, V14, P35 EASA SI, 1985, SURF SCI, V161, P129 GRIMLEY TB, 1983, SURF SCI, V124, P305 MAKOSHI K, 1984, J PHYS SOC JPN, V53, P2441 MCDOWELL HK, 1982, CHEM PHYS, V72, P451 MCDOWELL HK, 1982, J CHEM PHYS, V77, P3263 MCDOWELL HK, 1985, J CHEM PHYS, V83, P772 MORRISON SR, 1980, ELECTROCHEMISTRY SEM, P31 NEWNS DM, 1969, PHYS REV, V178, P1123 NEWNS DM, 1983, PHYS SCRIPTA, V6, P5 PARENT LG, 1984, J ELECTROANAL CH INF, V163, P23 SCHMICKLER W, 1979, J ELECTROANAL CHEM, V100, P533 SCHMICKLER W, 1980, J ELECTROANAL CH INF, V113, P159 SCHUGARD M, 1977, J CHEM PHYS, V66, P2534 SEBASTIAN KL, 1981, SURF SCI, V110, L571 SEBASTIAN KL, 1983, PHYS LETT A, V98, P39 SEBASTIAN KL, 1985, PHYS REV B, V31, P6976 SHANKAR R, 1982, PRINCIPLES QUANTUM M, P482 SROUBEK Z, 1981, SPRINGER SERIES CHEM, V17, P277 TULLY JC, 1980, ANNU REV PHYS CHEM, V31, P319 WATSON GN, 1966, TREATISE THEORY BESS YEAGER E, 1982, SURF SCI, V101, P1; NR: 34; TC: 18; J9: J ELECTROANAL CHEM; PG: 12; GA: C8849Source type: Electronic(1
Scale economies and geographic diversification as forces driving community bank mergers
No full textMergers of community banks across economic market areas potentially reduce both idiosyncratic and local market risk. Idiosyncratic risk may be reduced because the larger post merger bank has a larger customer base. Negative credit and liquidity shocks from individual customers would have smaller effects on the portfolio of the merged entity than on the individual community banks involved in the merger. Geographic dispersion of banking activities across economic market areas may reduce local market risk because an adverse economic development that is unique to one market area will not affect a bank*s loans to customers in different market areas. This paper simulates the mergers of community banks both within and across economic market areas by combining their call report data. We find that the potential for idiosyncratic risk reduction dominates the marginal contribution to risk reduction by diversifying across local markets. In other words, a typical community bank can reduce its insolvency risk about as much by merging with a bank across the street as it can by merging with one located across the country. The bulk of the pure portfolio diversification effects for community banks, therefore, appears to be unrelated to diversification across market areas and instead is related to bank size. These findings may help explain why many community banks have not pursued geographic diversification more aggressively, but they beg the question as to why more small community banks do not pursue in-market mergers.Community banks ; Bank mergers
The importance of scale economies and geographic diversification in community bank mergers
No full textMergers of community banks across economic market areas potentially reduce both idiosyncratic and local market risk. A merger may reduce idiosyncratic risk because the larger post-merger bank has a larger customer base. Negative credit and liquidity shocks from individual customers would have smaller effects on the portfolio of the merged entity than on the individual community banks involved in the merger. Geographic dispersion of banking activities across economic market areas may reduce local market risk because an adverse economic development that is unique to one market area will not affect a bank's loans to customers located in another market area. ; This paper simulates the mergers of community banks both within and across economic market areas by combining their call report data. We find that idiosyncratic risk reduction dominates local market risk reduction. In other words, a typical community bank can diversify away its idiosyncratic risk almost as completely by merging with a bank across the street as it can by merging with one located across the country. The bulk of the pure portfolio diversification effects for community banks, therefore, appear to be unrelated to diversification across market areas but, instead, are related to bank size. These findings help explain why many community banks have not pursued geographic diversification more aggressively, but they beg the question as to why more small community banks do not pursue in-market mergers.Bank supervision ; Bank mergers
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