[...]Our first suggestion is to reduce the fragmentation oftrading in STRIPS by assigning the same CUSIP number to allSTRIPS maturing on a common date—thus making thoseSTRIPS fungible with each other. In addition to enhancing theliquidity of the STRIPS market, this action would ensure...

[...]This article examines the origins and early development ofthe Federal Reserve’s book-entry system—the system mostclosely associated with the elimination of definitive, orcertificated, Treasury securities. We suggest that the Fed’ssystem was the product of three important factors: the...

[...]This article examines the introduction of regular auctionofferings of Treasury notes and bonds in the early 1970s. We donot take issue with the conventional wisdom that auctions aremore efficient and less costly than fixed-price offerings. Rather,we seek to identify why the Treasury twice...

[...]This article describes the institutional and economic settingof the fails problem and suggests why that problem led policymakers to depart so significantly from previous debtmanagement practices. The next section sets the stage byreviewing how investors establish beneficial ownership...

[...]This article examines the U.S. Treasury’s decision tointroduce a new financial instrument—Treasury bills—in1929. We show that Treasury officials were willing to committhe resources required to introduce the new security in orderto mitigate several flaws in the structure of Treasury...

[...]This article examines why, during the 1970s, Treasuryofficials changed the framework within which they made their debt management decisions. We show that the Treasuryfinanced an unusually rapid expansion of the deficit in 1975with a flurry of tactical offerings. The offerings disrupted...