William R. Emmons

When for-profits and not-for-profits compete: theory and empirical evidence from retail banking

This study models competition in local deposit markets between for‐profit and not‐for‐profit financial institutions. For‐profit retail banks may offer a superior bundle of financial services, but not‐for‐profit (occupational) credit unions enjoy subsidies from their sponsors (and exemption from federal income taxes), which allow them to capture a share of the local market. The model predicts that, at the county level, greater participation in credit unions is associated with higher levels of retail‐banking concentration. This hypothesis is supported by empirical evidence for the period 1990‐2000, but not for the most recent past (2001‐2002). The ability of credit unions to affect local banking market structure supports the presumption of current banking anti trust analysis that retail banking markets are local. Further, this study provides an empirical analysis of how local economic conditions‐income per capita and population density‐affect competition between banks and credit unions.

Pricing and dividend policies in open credit cooperatives

This paper develops a model of pricing and dividend policies in open credit cooperatives (i.e., those doing member and nonmember business). For a fixed distribution of member preferences, the larger the fraction of business done by members, the smaller the optimal dividend and the larger the optimal pricing subsidy. For a fixed fraction of member business, the greater the skewness of member preferences toward loan (deposit)business with the credit cooperative, the larger the optimal dividend and the higher (lower) the optimal loan (deposit) interest rate. Aggregate empirical evidence from the German cooperative banking sector supports a version of the latter prediction.

Cracks in the façade: American economic and financial structures after the boom

The Structural Foundations of International Finance examines the ways in which national economies, especially those of industrialized countries, are affected by the operations of international financial markets. Although these markets provide productive funding, there is also much speculative trading in stocks and currencies which can cause booms, slumps and hinder recovery. The authors advocate entrepreneurial coordination by productive enterprises for balanced and stable growth, with reduced risks of financial crises and recessions.