This paper proposes an institutional innovation in the structure of public bonds that is intended to provide some of the advantages of private loans- active monitoring, tight covenants, and ease of reorganization-while retaining the benefits of liquidity and ease of diversification provided by...

This paper presents three proposals intended to enhance liquidity in the market for U.S. Treasury debt: making principal and interest STRIPS maturing on a common date fungible with each other, aligning the maturity of 2-year debt with either bill maturities or the maturities of longer-term debt,...

This paper examines how workers use 401(k) plans by examining their participation, contribution, and withdrawal decisions. Sixty-five percent of eligible workers participate in 401(k) plans. Employee participation rises with income, age, job tenure, and education. While participation also rises...

We examine the relationship between monetary policy operations and interbank trading of funds using sovereign bonds as collateral. We first establish that, in the pre-crisis period, there are important but rather weak relations between these funding sources and that this relationship varies...

Settlement fails, which occur when securities are not delivered and paid for on the date scheduled by the buyer and seller, can expose market participants to the risk of loss due to counterparty insolvency. This article examines the institutional and economic setting of the fails problem that...

This paper was presented at the conference "Economic Statistics: New Needs for the Twenty-First Century," cosponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, and the National Association for Business Economics, July 11, 2002. Securities liquidity...