Mark Gertler Becomes Newest Resident Scholar
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Federal Reserve Bank of New York Number 2 2006 ResearchUpdate Research and Statistics Group www.newyorkfed.org/research Mark Gertler Becomes Newest Resident Scholar he Research Group welcomes Mark and has been a visiting scholar at the Gertler to its Program for Resident Federal Reserve Bank of New York on T Scholars for 2006-07. and off since 1994. Professor Gertler, the Henry and Lucy Professor Gertler joins current resident Moses Professor of Economics at NYU scholars Nobuhiro Kiyotaki of the London and Chair of the Economics Department, School of Economics and Suresh M. is known for his research on macroeco- Sundaresan of Columbia Business School. nomic theory, monetary economics, and The Research Group established its finance. He has published extensively, Program for Resident Scholars in 2004 coauthoring with Ben Bernanke, Glenn to attract to the New York Fed, for a stay Hubbard, and Mark Watson, and his work of at least six months, outstanding has appeared in the American Economic researchers with an international reputa- Review, the Journal of Political Economy, tion. The scholars are selected from the the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and top academic and policy institutions in the Review of Economic Studies. areas related to the Bank’s broad policy Professor Gertler has a distinguished career in academia. He is also a coeditor interests. Resident scholars pursue their of the American Economic Review and own research agendas while participating has been on the editorial boards of the fully in the Group’s activities. They work Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking; closely with the director of research, con- Economics Letters; the NBER tribute to policymaking discussions, and Macroeconomics Annual; and the Journal provide intellectual leadership by advising of Financial Intermediation. In addition, and collaborating with the Group’s he is a Fellow of the Econometric Society economists. ■ Research Update ■ Number 2, 2006 Economic Policy Review Sheds Light on Bank Market Size, Repo Contracting Conventions tudies of the banking and repo mar- more statewide than local? Getting the kets highlight the new issue of the definition right matters a lot in terms of S Economic Policy Review (vol. 12, how the government enforces antitrust no. 1). policy; bank mergers that might appear In “Local or State? Evidence on Bank anticompetitive under the local market Market Size Using Branch Prices,” concept might seem less worrisome if Don Morgan and Paul Edelstein argue markets are viewed as statewide. that bank branch prices—the amount one Using prices on 110 branch sales over bank pays to buy another bank’s branches— the 1990s, the authors run a “horse may be a better indicator of market size race” to determine which measure 2 than bank deposit rates and other of bank concentration—state or measures. local—explains more of the variation in Morgan and Edelstein explain that branch prices. They find that prices in since the 1960s, each Federal Reserve the ten northeast states analyzed are Bank has defined the markets in its more closely correlated with state-level District as local, that is, metropolitan sta- concentration, suggesting that banking tistical areas or small groups of rural markets, at least in the northeast, are not counties. However, because banks are necessarily local. now free to branch all over a state, the Still, Morgan and Edelstein caution local concept of banking markets may be that their finding may be based on an outdated—perhaps banking markets are arguably small sample of banks as well as Publications and Papers The Research and Statistics Group produces a wide range of publications: ■ The Economic Policy Review—a policy-oriented journal focusing on economic and financial market issues. ■ EPR Executive Summaries—online versions of selected Economic Policy Review articles, in abridged form. ■ Current Issues in Economics and Finance—concise studies of topical economic and financial issues. ■ Second District Highlights—a regional supplement to Current Issues. ■ Staff Reports—technical papers intended for publication in leading economic and finance journals, available only online. ■ Publications and Other Research—an annual catalogue of our research output. Federal Reserve Bank of New York www.newyorkfed.org/research on how the data are parsed. “Branch participants were thus spurred to revise price data certainly advance the local- the conventions dramatically. versus-state debate,” they note. “With The study points to three key develop- enough such data, that question might be ments in the evolution of repo contract- settled once and for all.” ing conventions attributable to market participants’ actions: the recognition of In his study of the repo market, accrued interest on repo securities, a Ken Garbade considers how contracting revision to how federal bankruptcy law conventions for repurchase agree- applied to repos, and the accelerated ments changed in one key decade growth of tri-party repo—a new form of (“The Evolution of Repo Contracting repo. Conventions in the 1980s”). The author describes how the growth According to the author, market partici- of the market, new uses for repos, and pants acted together to bring about the 3 the appearance of previously unappreciated recognition of accrued interest on repo risks fueled dramatic changes in the con- securities and to petition Congress to ventions. In the 1950s and 1960s, dealers amend federal bankruptcy law. Collective used repos to borrow money; in the action was necessary in both cases 1970s, they engaged in more complex because uncoordinated, individual solu- repo operations, also borrowing securities tions would have been too costly. The to cover short selling and thus adding emergence of tri-party repo reflected the risk to the market. Moreover, rising inter- efforts of individual market participants est rates and growing Treasury indebted- to seek an operationally cheaper, more ness attracted many new, smaller, and flexible alternative to conventional repos. less sophisticated creditors to the market. Given these changes, “contracting con- In the volume’s lead article, John ventions that were not inefficient in the Kambhu analyzes how the risk associated context of the repo markets of the 1950s with convergence trading affects market and 1960s—including neglect of accrued liquidity and asset price volatility in the interest, ambiguity about whether repos interest rate swap market. (This paper were loans or transactions, and relatively was summarized in the previous issue of costly mechanisms for removing repo Research Update.) securities from the control of The articles are available at borrowers—proved inadequate by the www.newyorkfed.org/research/epr/ early 1980s,” observes Garbade. Market index.html. Research and Statistics Group Research Update ■ Number 2, 2006 New Publication Focuses on the Upstate New York Economy he New York Fed’s Buffalo Branch the coming years, employers may face a recently published the first issue of particular challenge filling positions in T Upstate New York Regional growing services occupations with rela- Review, a newsletter reporting on topics tively high retirement rates, such as of importance to the upstate economy. health care, community and social In “Baby-Boomer Retirements and services, and education. Emerging Labor Market Pressures,” Upstate New York Regional Review Richard Deitz studies the demand for is an expanded and more comprehensive new workers in upstate New York created version of its predecessor publication, The by the combination of retirements and Regional Economy of Upstate New York. the region’s economic restructuring. His Copies are available at www.newyorkfed.org/ 4 analysis of projected hiring rates upstate buffalo. suggests that although there will be demand for workers in all occupations in Recently Published Adam Ashcraft. 2006. “New Evidence on João Santos. 2006. “Identifying the Effect the Lending Channel.” Journal of Money, of Managerial Control on Firm Credit, and Banking 38, no. 3 (April): 751-76. Performance,” with Renée B. Adams. Journal of Accounting and Economics 41, Gauti Eggertsson. 2006. “The Deflation no. 1-2 (April): 55-85. Bias and Committing to Being Irresponsible.” Journal of Money, Credit, João Santos. 2006. “Insuring Banks and Banking 38, no. 2 (March): 283-322. against Liquidity Shocks: The Role of Deposit Insurance and Lending of Last James Harrigan. 2006. “Timeliness and Resort.” Journal of Economic Surveys 20, Agglomeration,” with Anthony J. Venables. no. 3 (July): 459-82. Journal of Urban Economics 59, no. 2 (March): 300-16. Cédric Tille. 2006. “Current Account Adjustment with High Financial João Santos. 2006. “The American Integration: A Scenario Analysis,” with Keiretsu and Universal Banks: Investing, Michele Cavallo. Federal Reserve Bank of Voting, and Sitting on Nonfinancials’ San Francisco Economic Review 2006: Corporate Boards,” with Adrienne S. 31-45. ■ Rumble. Journal of Financial Economics 80, no. 2 (May): 419-54. Federal Reserve Bank of New York www.newyorkfed.org/research New Titles in the Staff Reports Series The following new Staff Reports are inputs play in determining the degree to available at www.newyorkfed.org/ which exchange rate fluctuations are trans- research/staff_reports. mitted to consumption prices. While the distribution sector dampens the sensitivity of consumption prices of tradable goods to MACROECONOMICS exchange rates by reducing the import AND GROWTH content of the final consumption good, it No. 245, April 2006 also enhances sensitivity