The trend toward greater provision of payments services by nonbank providers raises a question for regulators: What if these nonbank institutions suffer unfavorable balances or experience a run? The authors of this article look to the Panic of 1907 as an example of how private market...

After a long period during which house prices were not affected by distance from Chicago's central business district, values now decline by more than 8 percent per mile. Annual appreciation rates in house prices are higher in neighborhoods close to the city center with large minority...

The authors use survey data to measure the use of formal and informal sources of financing by owners of small businesses in two ethnic neighborhoods. The authors find substantial differences across ethnic groups in the amount of start-up funding obtained and in the use of trade credit.

This article documents not only the actual use of banks, but also the widespread use of alternative financing mechanisms, using data from a survey of households and businesses in a Hispanic neighborhood of Chicago.

Quieter aircraft are causing the 65-db noise contour band around O'Hare Airport to shrink over time, even in the event that air traffic increases by nearly 60 percent after the proposed expansion of the airport. Forecasts imply that home prices will increase by nearly $280 million (in 1997...