Downturns in the construction and finance sectors played a significant role in the recent recession. A stock-market-based measure that captures sectoral shocks shows that these disturbances are important for explaining long-duration unemployment. This is consistent with the intuition that...

Remarks before the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, San Antonio, Texas, July 29, 2010 ; "In whatever realm and whatever form, excessive uncertainty is the enemy of economic growth. As Ben Bernanke wrote in 1980, the 'resolution of uncertainty' can lead to '[a business] investment boom.'...

Remarks before the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, San Antonio, Texas, July 29, 2010 ; "In whatever realm and whatever form, excessive uncertainty is the enemy of economic growth. As Ben Bernanke wrote in 1980, the 'resolution of uncertainty' can lead to '[a business] investment boom.'...

Legislative and regulatory actions taken in response to the financial turmoil that occurred between 2007-2009 expanded the extent to which financial institution liabilities were protected by federal government guarantees, i.e., these actions expanded the federal financial safety net. How large...

This article summarizes some of the major themes and findings from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Financial Access Pilot (CFAP), a two year effort designed to test and demonstrate effective, replicable, and sustainable approaches to expanding access to financial services and...

In 2009, the banking industry continued to feel the fallout from the financial crisis that began in mid-2007. Some good news was revealed in recently available first-quarter data, however, which showed profitability rebounding and increases in asset-quality problems slowing down. Whether...

In 2004 Thailand began to implement the Financial Sector Master Plan (FSMP), a long-term reform program aimed at creating a more efficient, transparent, and internationally competitive financial sector that can serve a larger proportion of the Thai population. With the first phase of the FSMP...

Legislative and regulatory actions taken in response to the financial turmoil that occurred between 2007-2009 expanded the extent to which financial institution liabilities were protected by federal government guarantees, i.e., these actions expanded the federal financial safety net. How large...

This paper examines the relationship between the structure of banking markets and economic growth using a new dataset on manufacturing industry-level growth rates and banking market concentration for U.S. states during 1899-1929 - a period when the manufacturing sector was expanding rapidly and...

In 2008-09, Mexico was wracked by the global financial crisis, suffering its largest one-year economic contraction since at least the 1930s. But the banking sector withstood the shock and made important strides in one area--bringing previously unbanked households into the financial system....