We examine an otherwise standard model of capital accumulation to which spatial separation and limited communication create a role for money and shocks to portfolio needs create a role for banks. In this context we examine the existence, multiplicity, and dynamical properties of monetary...

This overview will summarize the existing literature on consumer payment behavior: what we know and don’t know, what we need to know, and the implications for public policy.

Identity theft has been a feature of financial markets for as long as alternatives have existed to cash transactions. But identity theft has recently occurred on a much larger scale. Data breaches often involve the apparent loss or acknowledged theft of the personal identifying information of...

An environment is analyzed in which agents join clubs (payment networks) in order to facilitate trade. The networks compile personal identifying data (PID) so as to match transactors to transactions histories. Technological limitations cause the networks' data management practices to impact each...

This article identifies four U.S. credit crunches-periods of sharply increased non-price credit rationing-between 1960 and 1992. Extreme intimidation of banks by the Federal Reserve and U.S. federal government through jawboning and credible threats of increased regulatory oversight caused the...

Experience suggests that in times of rising inflation and interest rates, political support emerges for the use of credit controls. In the U.S., such controls were last used in 1980. This article examines the 1980 controls and argues that the program had unintended and unforeseen effects that...

Recent survey results from the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey indicate that, on net, many banks tightened their loan standards during 1990 and early 1991. This article investigates the implications of these results by comparing them to survey responses from previous periods.