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Specific types of Hispanic-owned banks (HOBs), including those related to Brazilian, Cuban, Mexican or Puerto Rican heritage, have not be analyzed to date. There are important differences between the relevant communities, including geographic location, language barriers, population size and the importance of remittances to foreign nations. The analysis here sheds light on these differences.

HOBs with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)-designated minority-owned depository institution (MDI) designation are identified, along with bank ownership heritage. Financial data, a measure of market competition, and demographics of depositors from 2003 to 2017 are utilized in an exploratory analysis comparing banks by HOB type, with random effects regressions for the pre-collapse (2003–2006) and post-collapse (2009–2017) periods.

Although each of the four types of HOBs serve Hispanic and poor communities, there are substantial differences. For example, Brazilian and Puerto Rican banks on the island held high levels of nonperforming loans (NPLs) post-collapse, with the Brazilian and Mexican banks expanding levels of risky commercial real estate (CRE) lending post-collapse, while the Cuban banks contracted CRE lending. Differences in terms of return on assets (ROAs), the cost of borrowed funds and the tier-1 risk-based capital ratio are also identified.

HOBs, like Latinos in the USA, are culturally heterogeneous and likely operate in different ways depending upon the culture and economic circumstances of the communities where they operate.

Although there is substantial research on MDIs, this is the first analysis which treats HOBs as culturally heterogeneous. Further research of this type is warranted.

The study aims to analyze the roles of poverty and African American status in terms of vulnerability to tornado damages and barriers to recovery afterward.

Using five decades of county-level data on tornadoes, the authors test whether economic damages from tornadoes are correlated with vulnerability (proxied by poverty and African American status) and wealth (proxied by median income and educational attainment), controlling for tornado risk. A multinomial logistic difference-in-difference (DID) estimator is used to analyze long-run effects of tornadoes in terms of displacement (reduced proportions of the poor and African Americans), abandonment (increased proportions of those groups) and neither or both.

Controlling for tornado risk, poverty and African American status are linked to greater tornado damages, as is wealth. Absent tornadoes, displacement and abandonment are both more likely to occur in urban settings and communities with high levels of vulnerability, while abandonment is more likely to occur in wealthy communities, consistent with on-going forces of segregation. Tornado damages significantly increase abandonment in vulnerable communities, thereby increasing the prevalence of poor African Americans in those communities. Therefore, the authors conclude that tornadoes contribute to on-going processes generating inequality by poverty/race.

The current paper is the first study connecting tornado damages to race and poverty. It is also the first study finding that tornadoes contribute to long-term processes of segregation and inequality.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the profitability of different ownership forms of banks. The two ownership forms are corporations that elect to be taxed as a Subchapter S corporation (limited to 100 shareholders) as opposed to those corporations that do not make this election. The impact this election has on the dividends paid to the investors is examined.

This paper uses Call Report Data on Wisconsin banks as collected by SNL Securities as its database. The research methodology uses two measures of performance: dividend ratio and accounting return on assets (ROA). The dividend ratio is defined as dividends as a percentage of net income (dividends/net income). Accounting return on investment is net income as a percentage of total assets (net income/total assets) and is a measure of profitability. A number of regressions were created with these as the endogenenous variables and a heteroskedasticity‐corrected ordinary least squares (OLS) model was used.

Subchapter S banks were found to be more profitable (as measured by ROA). However, when taxes are taken into account, there is no practical difference in profitability between the two types of corporate structure.

By limiting the analysis to Wisconsin, a single state, confusion that may be caused by both state laws (personal and corporate) and local corporate cultures is avoided.

The practical implications of this research can guide the federal government in determining whether this form of stock ownership is a device that reduces or increases federal tax revenues. It can also provide insight to the stockholders of these banks into the differences in profitability these corporate forms offer.

While earlier literature has reviewed the concept of Subchapter S corporations and its theoretical impact, little research has been conducted that tests the actual results. Due to the private nature of the corporate form (these types of corporations are often not publicly traded and have no incentive to reveal private financial records), this original research is the result of the public nature of banks that provide a rich dataset for us to examine.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze interest-bearing checking (IC) account policies, including the monthly fee, and minima to avoid the fee or to earn interest, as shrouded equilibria in the sense that low-income depositors subsidize higher income depositors. The authors ask whether behavior is consistent with low-income depositors being myopic, and analyze the role of competition and bank size.

IC policy data from RateWatch cover more than 600 single-market banks from 2008-2012, and are matched to FDIC SOD data and call report data for testing. Hypotheses assuming low-income depositors are myopic are tested, as are the effects of bank size and competition with local market and multi-market banks.

IC policies represent locally shrouded equilibria, with low-income depositors subsidizing higher income depositors up to a well-defined threshold, with depositors above that threshold subsiding all other customers. IC policy patterns are consistent with low-income customers being myopic, with banks generally avoiding drawing their attention, attempting to confuse them, and with policies consistent with a present orientation among low-income depositors. Local market competition does not meet the traditional expectation of favoring consumers. Additionally, larger banks report higher fees and minima, with the difference growing during the period.

IC policies have not received regulatory attention, yet the fees likely fall mainly on low-income individuals, and may continue to grow.

The analysis of IC policies is novel, as is the locally shrouded equilibrium model, and findings regarding competition.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card reforms in California’s Food Stamp Program, and its impact on food insecurity.

The authors test the hypothesis that EBT cards reduce food insecurity by reducing the food costs associated with loss and theft of benefits, as well as by decreasing fraudulent sales of benefits. The authors use a natural experiment in the form of the time-varying roll-out of EBT card reforms across California counties in conjunction with the California Health Interview Survey, to conduct an event study.

The findings suggest no evidence for a decrease in food insecurity. The authors do, however, find evidence of a transitory increase in food insecurity immediately following implementation of EBT reforms. Reforms increase the likelihood of food insecurity by about 3 percent for up to two months. The result is distinguishable from zero, and robust to changes in specification, inclusion of controls, and measurement choices. The authors posit the increase was due to frictions in the transition to EBT card systems.

Although a considerable literature with regard to the FSP exists, very little has been written investigating a specific linkage between EBT cards and food security. The findings are not supportive of policy makers’ hypothesis that a positive externality of EBT benefits delivery is a lasting reduction in food insecurity.