Economic Perspectives

Minority-Owned Banks and Their Primary Local Market Areas

Maude Toussaint-Comeau and Robin Newberger

Minority-owned banks failed at relatively high rates during the financial crisis. More recently, there is evidence of expansion in the sector’s number of branches and extension into new markets, although challenges related to funding and capital remain.

The Event-Study Activity Puzzle

Jeffrey R. Campbell, Jonas D. M. Fisher, Alejandro Justiniano, and Leonardo Melosi

If news of higher future interest rates reflects a shift in the stance of monetary policy, then we expect it to lower projections for real GDP growth and raise projections for unemployment. However, the data point to quite different conclusions.

Understanding Global Trends in Long-run Real Interest Rates

Kei-Mu Yi and Jing Zhang

The authors explore trends in long-run real interest rates and their underlying factors for the 20 largest economies from the 1950s through the present day.

The Goldilocks Problem: How to Get Incentives and Default Waterfalls “Just Right”

John McPartland and Rebecca Lewis

Article describes structures and incentives related to default waterfalls at central counterparties, which guarantee the performance of their clearing members’ financial contracts.