Econ Focus, Second Quarter 2017
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SECOND QUARTER 2017 FEDERALFEDERAL RESERVE RESERVE BANK BANK OF OF RICHMOND RICHMOND Can “Sin Taxes” be Good for Your Health and the Economy? Soda taxes – the latest example – are gaining favor Paying for Public The Fed and Foreign Interview with Broadcasting Exchange Jesse Shapiro VOLUME 22 NUMBER 2 SECOND QUARTER 2017 Econ Focus is the economics magazine of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. It covers economic issues affecting the Fifth Federal Reserve District and the nation and is published on a quarterly basis by the Bank’s Research Department. The Fifth District consists of the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, COVER STORY South Carolina, Virginia, 11 and most of West Virginia. Pricing Vice DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH Can “sin taxes” be good for your health and the economy? Kartik Athreya EDITORIAL ADVISER Aaron Steelman FEATURES EDITOR 16 Renee Haltom Bankrolling Big Bird SENIOR EDITOR David A. Price Is there still an economic case for government-supported MANAGING EDITOR/DESIGN LEAD broadcasting? Kathy Constant 20 STAFF WRITERS Helen Fessenden Credit Unions: A Taxing Question Jessie Romero A tax exemption has helped credit unions since the 1930s, but Tim Sablik EDITORIAL ASSOCIATE Lisa Kenney some argue they should be treated more like banks CONTRIBUTORS Kody Carmody Michael Stanley Sonya Ravindranath Waddell DEPARTMENTS John A. Weinberg 1 Message from the Interim President/Financial Services for DESIGN Lower-Income Communities Janin/Cliff Design, Inc. 2 Upfront/Regional News at a Glance 3 The Profession/The Role of the Council of Economic Advisers Published quarterly by the Federal Reserve Bank 4 Federal Reserve/The Fed’s Foray Into Forex of Richmond P.O. Box 27622 8 Jargon Alert/Value-Added Tax Richmond, VA 23261 9 Research Spotlight/Superstar Firms and the Falling Labor Share www.richmondfed.org www.twitter.com/ 10 Around the Fed/Lost Your Job? Call Mom and Dad RichFedResearch 24 Interview/Jesse Shapiro 30 Economic History/Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919 Subscriptions and additional copies: Available free of 35 Book Review/Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class charge through our website at www.richmondfed.org/publi- Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What cations or by calling Research Publications at (800) 322-0565. to Do About It Reprints: Text may be reprinted 36 District Digest/The Urban Core in the Tale of Three Cities: Baltimore, with the disclaimer in italics below. Permission from the editor Charlotte, and Richmond is required before reprinting photos, charts, and tables. Credit 44 Opinion/Unwinding the Fed’s Asset Purchases Econ Focus and send the editor a copy of the publication in which the reprinted material appears. The views expressed in Econ Focus are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond or the Federal Reserve System. ISSN 2327-0241 (Print) ISSN 2327-025x (Online) MESSAGE FROM THE INTERIM PRESIDENT Financial Services for Lower-Income Communities ne of the Richmond Fed’s most important jobs not necessarily the only finan- as a regional Reserve Bank is understanding the cial institutions that serve Oneeds of our communities, including how peo- LMI neighborhoods.) There ple and businesses in low- and moderate-income (LMI) are nearly 100 CDFIs oper- communities are able to meet their needs for financial ating in the Richmond Fed’s services. district. A variety of institu- These communities make up a substantial portion of tions can become CDFIs, our district. As of 2014, more than one-quarter of the including banks, loan funds, Fifth District’s population — 8.1 million people — lived venture capital firms, and in LMI areas. (In the banking industry, a low-income credit unions. area is defined as one where the median family income is A credit union is a nonprofit up to half of the median family income for the surround- cooperative whose members ing region; in a moderate-income community, median all share a “common bond,” family income is between 50 percent and 80 percent of such as where they work or live. Most credit unions are not the median family income in the surrounding region.) CDFIs, but they did develop as a way to provide affordable Many households in the Fifth District are “unbanked,” credit to people who might not otherwise have access to meaning they don’t have a traditional checking or savings credit. (The Federal Credit Union Act of 1934 stated that account and instead rely on services such as check cashing, credit unions existed to provide credit to “people of small payday or auto title loans, or prepaid debit cards, to name means,” language that persists in the current version of the a few. These services tend to come with higher fees and law.) Rather than requiring collateral, early credit unions interest rates than traditional banking products. Overall, relied on their cooperative structure and the social con- nearly 7 percent of Fifth District households are unbanked, nections among their members to create incentives for risk roughly on par with the national average; the share is as high monitoring and loan repayment. as 9 percent in South Carolina and 11 percent in the District As we discuss in this issue of Econ Focus, credit unions of Columbia. An additional 21 percent of households are have evolved significantly since the first one opened in “underbanked,” meaning they do have a traditional check- 1908. This evolution has prompted a host of questions ing or savings account but also use one or more alternative about the regulations governing them and how they com- financial services. While we don’t know the exact overlap pete with other depository institutions. These questions between unbanked or underbanked households and house- are of interest not only to the Fed and other financial holds in LMI communities, we do know that consumers regulators, but also to consumers, and we hope you find who use alternative financial services tend to have lower the article both interesting and informative. incomes. They also tend to be younger and have less In addition to credit unions, this issue features articles education. on the efficacy of so-called “sin taxes,” the economic and In some cases, individuals might take out a payday social repercussions of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918- loan or buy a prepaid card because they lack the credit 1919, and the Fed’s role in foreign exchange markets, history to qualify for a traditional loan or open a bank among other topics. account. It’s also possible they don’t have enough infor- Thank you for reading, and we look forward to hearing mation about the differences between traditional and from you if you’d like to share your thoughts on these or alternative services. But survey evidence indicates that any other topics. EF some consumers actually prefer to use alternative finan- cial services, perhaps because they perceive them as more convenient — there’s no waiting period for a check to clear, for example — or they wish to avoid overdraft charges or monthly account fees. To the extent lower-income consumers do not have sufficient access to, or information about, financial ser- vices, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) aim to fill this gap. CDFIs, which are certified by MARK L. MULLINIX the Treasury Department, specifically target households INTERIM PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER and businesses in low-income communities. (CDFIs are FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF RICHMOND E CON F OCUS | S ECOND Q UARTER | 2017 1 PFRONT U Regional News at a Glance BY LISA KENNEY MARYLAND — In May, the Governor’s Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing held the country’s first-ever deaf business summit. The event was aimed at supporting entrepreneurship among deaf and hard of hearing business owners. The summit had a focus on small businesses, with workshops on licensing, leasing, and bank financing. It was attended by more than 60 hearing-impaired business owners. NORTH CAROLINA — Nearly 500 workers will lose their jobs when cereal and snack firm Kellogg closes two North Carolina distribution centers by mid-August. The centers in Charlotte and Greensboro will close as part of Kellogg’s move to ship products to its customers’ warehouses instead of directly to stores. Kellogg is making the change in order to reduce costs and complexity after reporting a net loss of $53 million in fourth quarter 2016. SOUTH CAROLINA — In early June, Comcast opened its new Center of Excellence in North Charleston. The facility will create 550 customer care and technical support jobs in the next year, doubling Comcast’s local workforce. The $21.4 million, 80,000-square-foot center houses six training rooms for virtual classroom education and a product demo lab. Comcast also operates a customer center in North Charleston that opened in 2015. VIRGINIA — Essex County, Va., will soon be home to one of the largest solar facilities in the state. Coronal Energy and Dominion Energy are teaming up on the 174-acre, 20-megawatt Essex Solar Center, which will generate enough electricity to power 5,000 single-family homes annually. Dominion will purchase the generated power through a 20-year power purchase agreement. The project is expected to be completed in November and will create between 80 to 100 jobs during construction. WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Fannie Mae redevelopment site in Friendship Heights has found its anchor. Wegmans announced in May that it will open its first D.C. store as part of the mixed-use village that will replace what is currently Fannie Mae’s headquarters. Last fall, Roadside Development and North America Sekisui House jointly purchased the 10-acre property for $89 million, with a plan to convert it into condos, townhomes, and retail and office space.