The impact of natural disasters on the performance and solvency of US banks

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Walker ◽  
Yixin Xu ◽  
Dieter Gramlich ◽  
Yunfei Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Capital Requirements ◽  
Net Income ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Equity Ratio ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis paper explores the effect of natural disasters on the profitability and solvency of US banks.Design/methodology/approachEmploying a sample of 187 large-scale natural disasters that occurred in the United States between 2000 and 2014 and a sample of 2,891 banks, we examine whether and how disaster-related damages affect various measures of bank profitability and bank solvency. We differentiate between different types of banks (with local, regional and national operations) based on a breakdown of their state-level deposits and explore the reaction of these banks to damages weighted by the GDP of the states they operate in.FindingsWe find that natural disasters have a pronounced effect on the net-income-to-assets and the net-income-to-equity ratio of banks, as well as the banks' impaired loans and return on average assets. We also observe significant effects on the equity ratio and the tier-1 capital ratio (two solvency measures). Interestingly, the latter are positive for regional banks which appear to benefit from increased customer deposits related to safekeeping, government payments for post-disaster recovery, insurance payouts and decreased withdrawals, while they are significantly negative for banks that operate locally or nationally.Originality/valueWe contribute to the literature by offering various new insights regarding the effects natural disasters have on financial institutions. With climate change-driven natural disasters widely expected to increase both in terms of frequency and severity, their economic fallout is likely to impose an increasing burden on financial institutions. Large, nationally operating banks tend to be well diversified both geographically and in terms of their product offerings. Small, locally operating banks, however, are increasingly at risk – particularly if they operate in disaster-prone areas. Current banking regulations generally do not factor natural disaster risks into their capital requirements. To avoid the next big financial crisis, regulators may want to adjust their reserve requirements by taking this growing risk exposure into consideration.

scholarly journals State-level needs for social distancing and contact tracing to contain COVID-19 in the United States 

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weihsueh A. Chiu ◽  
Rebecca Fischer ◽  
Martial L. Ndeffo-Mbah
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
District Of Columbia ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Epidemic Curve ◽  
Dynamics And Control ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Starting in mid-May 2020, many US states began relaxing social distancing measures that were put in place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. To evaluate the impact of relaxation of restrictions on COVID-19 dynamics and control, we developed a transmission dynamic model and calibrated it to US state-level COVID-19 cases and deaths. We used this model to evaluate the impact of social distancing, testing and contact tracing on the COVID-19 epidemic in each state. As of July 22, 2020, we found only three states were on track to curtail their epidemic curve. Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia may have to double their testing and/or tracing rates and/or rolling back reopening by 25%, while eight states require an even greater measure of combined testing, tracing, and distancing. Increased testing and contact tracing capacity is paramount for mitigating the recent large-scale increases in U.S. cases and deaths.

scholarly journals State-level impact of social distancing and testing on COVID-19 in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weihsueh A. Chiu ◽  
Rebecca Fischer ◽  
Martial L. Ndeffo-Mbah
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Disease Incidence ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Reproductive Number ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Epidemic Curve ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Social distancing measures have been implemented in the United States (US) since March 2020, to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19. However, by mid-May most states began relaxing these measures to support the resumption of economic activity, even as disease incidence continued to increase in many states. To evaluate the impact of relaxing social distancing restrictions on COVID-19 dynamics and control in the US, we developed a transmission dynamic model and calibrated it to US state-level COVID-19 cases and deaths from March to June 20th, 2020, using Bayesian methods. We used this model to evaluate the impact of reopening, social distancing, testing, contact tracing, and case isolation on the COVID-19 epidemic in each state. We found that using stay-at-home orders, most states were able to curtail their COVID-19 epidemic curve by reducing and achieving an effective reproductive number below 1. But by June 20th, 2020, only 19 states and the District of Columbia were on track to curtail their epidemic curve with a 75% confidence, at current levels of reopening. Of the remaining 31 states, 24 may have to double their current testing and/or contact tracing rate to curtail their epidemic curve, and seven need to further restrict social contact by 25% in addition to doubling their testing and contact tracing rates. When social distancing restrictions are being eased, greater state-level testing and contact tracing capacity remains paramount for mitigating the risk of large-scale increases in cases and deaths.

Bank mergers: the cyclical behaviour of regulation, risk and returns

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Hassan ◽  
Evangelos Giouvris
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Systemic Risk ◽  
Financial Institution ◽  
Capital Requirements ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Bank Mergers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Risk Contribution ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of bank mergers on systemic and systematic risks on the relative merits of product and market diversification strategies. It also observes determinants of M&A deals criteria, product and market diversification positioning, crisis threshold and other regulatory and market factors. Design/methodology/approach This research examines the impact and association between merger announcements and regulatory reforms at bank and system levels by investigating the impact of various bank consolidation strategies on firms’ risks. We estimate beta(s) as an index of financial institutions’ systematic risk. We then develop an index of the estimated equity value loss as the long-rum marginal expected shortfall (LRMES). LRMES contributes to compute systemic risk (SRISK) contribution of these firms, which is the capital that a firm is expected to need if we have another financial crisis. Findings Large acquiring banks decrease systemic risk contribution in cross-border M&As with a non-bank financial institution, and witness profitability (ROA) gains, supporting geographic diversification stability. Capital requirements, activity restrictions and bank concentration increase systemic risk contribution in national mergers. Bank mergers with investment FIs targets enhance productivity but impair technical efficiency, contrary to bank-real estate deals where technical efficiency change accompanied lower systemic risk contribution. Practical implications Financial institutions are recommended to avoid trapped capital and liquidity by efficiently using local balance sheet and strengthening them via implementing models that clearly set diversification and netting benefits to determine capital reserves and to drive capital efficiency through the clarity on product–activity–geography diversification and focus. This contributes to successful ringfencing, decreases compliance costs and maximises returns and minimises several risks including systemic risk. Social implications Policy implications: the adversative properties of bank mergers in respect of systemic risk require strict and innovative monitoring of bank mergers from the bidding level by both acquirers and targets and regulators and competition supervisory bodies. Moreover, emphasis on regulators/governments intervention and role, as it provides a stabilising factor of the markets and consecutively lower systemic risk even if the systematic idiosyncratic risk contribution was significant. However, such roles have to be well planned and scaled to avoid providing motives for banks to seek too-big-too-fail or too-big-to-discipline status. Originality/value This research contributes to the renewing regulatory debate on banks sustainable structures by examining the risk effect of bank diversification versus focus. The authors aim to address the multidimensional impacts and risks inherent to M&A deals, by examining the extent of the interconnectedness of M&A and its implications within and beyond the banking sector.

Consumer sentiment and house prices: asymmetric evidence from state-level data in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee ◽  
Hesam Ghodsi ◽  
Muris Hadzic
Keyword(s):  
House Prices ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Symmetric Model ◽  
Consumer Sentiment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Asymmetric Effects ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess and compare the symmetric and asymmetric effects of consumer sentiment on house prices in each state of the USA. This is the first study that uses state-level data. Design/methodology/approach Both linear and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approaches are used to assess the asymmetric effects of consumer sentiment on house prices in each state of the USA. Findings When the authors estimated a linear symmetric model, this paper found short-run effects of consumer sentiment on house prices in 34 states that lasted into the long-run in only 13 states. The comparable numbers by estimating a nonlinear asymmetric model were 47 and 22, respectively. The increase in the number of states where consumer sentiment affects house prices was attributed to the nonlinear adjustments of consumer sentiment. Originality/value The authors deviate from previous research and assess the impact of consumer sentiment on house prices by using data from each state of the USA. The authors also deviate from previous research by demonstrating that the effects could be asymmetric. No study has done this at the state-level.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Commercial Molecular Diagnostic Methods for Detection and Determination of Macrolide Resistance in Mycoplasma pneumoniae

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sixto M. Leal ◽  
Arthur H. Totten ◽  
Li Xiao ◽  
Donna M. Crabb ◽  
Amy Ratliff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mycoplasma Pneumoniae ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Macrolide Resistance ◽  
Diagnostic Methods ◽  
Respiratory Pathogen ◽  
Molecular Diagnostic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT We evaluated six commercial molecular tests targeting Mycoplasma pneumoniae, namely, the BioFire FilmArray respiratory panel (RP), the Meridian Alethia Mycoplasma Direct, the GenMark ePlex respiratory pathogen panel (RPP), the Luminex NxTAG RPP, the ELITech ELITe InGenius Mycoplasma MGB research use only (RUO) PCR, and the SpeeDx Resistance Plus MP assays. Laboratory-developed PCR assays at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were used as reference standards. Among 428 specimens, 212 were designated confirmed positives for M. pneumoniae. The highest clinical sensitivities were found with the InGenius PCR (99.5%) and the FilmArray RP (98.1%). The Resistance Plus MP identified 93.3% of the confirmed-positive specimens, whereas 83.6, 64.6, and 55.7% were identified by the ePlex RPP, NxTAG RPP, and Mycoplasma Direct assays, respectively. There was no significant difference between the sensitivity of the reference methods and that of the FilmArray RP and InGenius assays, but the remaining four assays detected significantly fewer positive specimens (P < 0.05). Specificities of all assays were 99.5 to 100%. The Resistance Plus MP assay detected macrolide resistance in 27/33 specimens, resulting in a sensitivity of 81.8%. This study provides the first large-scale comparison of commercial molecular assays for detection of M. pneumoniae in the United States and identified clear differences among their performance. Additional studies are necessary to explore the impact of various test performances on patient outcome.

Situational Breakdowns

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Nassauer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Dynamic Processes ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact

This book provides an account of how and why routine interactions break down and how such situational breakdowns lead to protest violence and other types of surprising social outcomes. It takes a close-up look at the dynamic processes of how situations unfold and compares their role to that of motivations, strategies, and other contextual factors. The book discusses factors that can draw us into violent situations and describes how and why we make uncommon individual and collective decisions. Covering different types of surprise outcomes from protest marches and uprisings turning violent to robbers failing to rob a store at gunpoint, it shows how unfolding situations can override our motivations and strategies and how emotions and culture, as well as rational thinking, still play a part in these events. The first chapters study protest violence in Germany and the United States from 1960 until 2010, taking a detailed look at what happens between the start of a protest and the eruption of violence or its peaceful conclusion. They compare the impact of such dynamics to the role of police strategies and culture, protesters’ claims and violent motivations, the black bloc and agents provocateurs. The analysis shows how violence is triggered, what determines its intensity, and which measures can avoid its outbreak. The book explores whether we find similar situational patterns leading to surprising outcomes in other types of small- and large-scale events: uprisings turning violent, such as Ferguson in 2014 and Baltimore in 2015, and failed armed store robberies.

scholarly journals Shooting from the ‘Scrip: Scope of Practice Laws and Access to Immunizations in the Pharmacy Setting

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 444
Author(s):  
Charles Stoecker
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
National Level ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scope Of Practice ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Behavioral Risk ◽  
Influenza Immunization ◽  
Immunization Rates ◽  
The Impact

In the past two decades, most states in the United States have added authorization for pharmacists to administer some vaccinations. Expansions of this authority have also come with prescription requirements or other regulatory burdens. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of these expansions on influenza immunization rates in adults age 65 and over. A panel data, differences-in-differences regression framework to control for state-level unobserved confounders and shocks at the national level was used on a combination of a dataset of state-level statute and regulatory changes and influenza immunization data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Giving pharmacists permission to vaccinate had a positive impact on adult influenza immunization rates of 1.4 percentage points for adults age 65 and over. This effect was diminished by the presence of laws requiring pharmacists to obtain patient-specific prescriptions. There was no evidence that allowing pharmacists to administer vaccinations led patients to have fewer annual check-ups with physicians or not have a usual source of health care. Expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice laws to include administering the influenza vaccine had a positive impact on influenza shot uptake. This may have implications for relaxing restrictions on other forms of care that could be provided by pharmacists.

Farm wages and public works

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanika Mahajan
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Wage Rate ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Wage Growth ◽  
State Level ◽  
Random Allocation ◽  
Farm Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) on farm sector wage rate. This identification strategy rests on the assumption that all districts across India would have had similar wage trends in the absence of the program. The author argues that this assumption may not be true due to non-random allocation of districts to the program’s three phases across states and different economic growth paths of the states post the implementation of NREGS. Design/methodology/approach – To control for overall macroeconomic trends, the author allows for state-level time fixed effects to capture the differences in growth trajectories across districts due to changing economic landscape in the parent-state over time. The author also estimates the expected farm sector wage growth due to the increased public work employment provision using a theoretical model. Findings – The results, contrary to the existing studies, do not find support for a significantly positive impact of NREGS treatment on private cultivation wage rate. The theoretical model also shows that an increase in public employment work days explains very little of the total growth in cultivation wage post 2004. Originality/value – This paper looks specifically at farm sector wage growth and the possible impact of NREGS on it, accounting for state specific factors in shaping farm wages. Theoretical estimates are presented to overcome econometric limitations.

Do disclosure and transparency affect bank’s financial performance?

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1344-1361
Author(s):  
Isaiah Oino
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Loan Portfolios ◽  
Cent Level ◽  
Transparency And Disclosure ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of transparency and disclosure on the financial performance of financial institutions. The emphasis is on assessing transparency and disclosure; auditing and compliance; risk management as indicators of corporate governance; and understanding how these parameters affect bank profitability, liquidity and the quality of loan portfolios. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 20 financial institutions was selected, with ten respondents from each, yielding a total sample size of 200. Principal component analysis (PCA), with inbuilt ability to check for composite reliability, was used to obtain composite indices for the corporate governance indicators as well as the indicators of financial performance, based on a set of questions framed for each institution. Findings The analysis demonstrates that greater disclosure and transparency, improved auditing and compliance and better risk management positively affect the financial performance of financial institutions. In terms of significance, the results show that as the level of disclosure and transparency in managerial affairs increases, the performance of financial institutions – as measured in terms of the quality of loan portfolios, liquidity and profitability – increases by 0.3046, with the effect being statistically significant at the 1 per cent level. Furthermore, as the level of auditing and the degree of compliance with banking regulations increases, the financial performance of banks improves by 0.3309. Research limitations/implications This paper did not consider time series because corporate governance does not change periodically. Practical implications This paper demonstrates the importance of disclosure and transparency in managerial affairs because the performance of financial institutions, as measured in terms of loan portfolios, liquidity and profitability, increases by 0.4 when transparency and disclosure improve, with this effect being statistically significant at the 1 per cent level. Originality/value The use of primary data in assessing the impact of corporate governance on financial performance, instead of secondary data, is the primary novelty of this study. Moreover, PCA is used to assess the weight of the various parameters.

The impact of labor freedom on geographic cost of living differentials

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-395
Author(s):  
Richard Cebula ◽  
James E. Payne ◽  
Donnie Horner ◽  
Robert Boylan
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Significant Finding ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of labor market freedom on state-level cost of living differentials in the USA using cross-sectional data for 2016 after allowing for the impacts of economic and quality of life factors. Design/methodology/approach The study uses two-stage least squares estimation controlling for factors contributing to cost of living differences across states. Findings The results reveal that an increase in labor market freedom reduces the overall cost of living. Research limitations/implications The study can be extended using panel data and alternative measures of labor market freedom. Practical implications In general, the finding that less intrusive government and greater labor freedom are associated with a reduced cost of living should not be surprising. This is because less government intrusion and greater labor freedom both inherently allow markets to be more efficient in the rationalization of and interplay with forces of supply and demand. Social implications The findings of this and future related studies could prove very useful to policy makers and entrepreneurs, as well as small business owners and public corporations of all sizes – particularly those considering either location in, relocation to, or expansion into other markets within the USA. Furthermore, the potential benefits of the National Right-to-Work Law currently under consideration in Congress could add cost of living reductions to the debate. Originality/value The authors extend the literature on cost of living differentials by investigating whether higher amounts of state-level labor market freedom act to reduce the states’ cost of living using the most recent annual data available (2016). That labor freedom has a systemic efficiency impact on the state-level cost of living is a significant finding. In our opinion, it is likely that labor market freedom is increasing the efficiency of labor market transactions in the production and distribution of goods and services, and acts to reduce the cost of living in states. In addition, unlike previous related studies, the authors investigate the impact of not only overall labor market freedom on the state-level cost of living, but also how the three sub-indices of labor market freedom, as identified and measured by Stansel et al. (2014, 2015), impact the cost of living state by state.

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