This paper investigates whether oil prices have a reliable and stable out-of-sample relationship with the Canadian/U.S. dollar nominal exchange rate. Despite state-of-the-art methodologies, the authors find little systematic relation between oil prices and the exchange rate at the monthly and...

This paper sets forth a discussion framework for the information requirements of systemic financial regulation. It specifically describes a potential large macro-micro database for the U.S. based on an extended version of the Flow of Funds. I argue that such a database would have been of...

This paper argues that there is a normative case for delaying policy reform. Policy design in dynamic economies typically faces a trade-off between the policy effects in the short and long term, and possibly across future states of nature. When the economy is in an atypical state or available...

In this paper, I study long-run population changes across U.S. metropolitan areas. First, I argue that changes over a long period of time in the geographic distribution of population can be informative about the so-called \resilience" of regions. Using the censuses of population from1790 to...

Refinancing a first mortgage puts legal principles in conflict when other, junior, liens also exist. On one hand, the principle that seniority follows time priority leaves the new refinancing mortgage junior to mortgages that were junior to the original, refinanced first mortgage. On the other...

An important component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s (ARRA’s) $796 billion proposed stimulus budget was $318 billion in fiscal assistance to state and local governments, yet the authors have no precise estimates of the impact of such assistance on the macroeconomy. In...

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which provides insurance for residential mortgage loans, was established by the National Housing Act of 1934 to stimulate housing demand and, in turn, demand for those who build housing. In the housing boom after World War II, FHA loans helped make...

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), an agency within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), insures mortgage loans made by private lenders. All FHA-insured borrowers pay mortgage insurance as one of the terms of their mortgage loan, and this insurance protects the lender...

The U.S. General Services Administration’s SmartPay program is the world’s largest commercial card portfolio. Nearly every state uses payment cards to electronically distribute unemployment insurance, child support, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, or other funds. Federal, state, and...

Presented by Charles I. Plosser, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, presented at Montgomery County Community College Distinguished Lecture Series, Blue Bell, PA, April 16, 2008