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Journal Article
The Accounts of the Unbanked and Underbanked
We conducted focus groups with financially underserved Americans to learn more about how they manage their money. We spoke with 36 unbanked and underbanked individuals in Houston, Texas, and Cleveland, Ohio, about how they make and receive payments, the challenges they encounter in managing their finances, and how these experiences shape their views of financial service providers. While several participants described negative experiences with bank fees and concerns about security vulnerabilities, they acknowledged that alternative financial service providers were not always adequate ...
Journal Article
Immigration and the Unemployment Rate in 2023–2024
The increase in the US unemployment rate observed from early 2023 until late 2024 primarily reflected a decline in the job-finding rate. Using the share of noncitizens in the US labor market as a measure of immigration, this Economic Commentary evaluates two mechanisms through which a higher share of noncitizens coming from post-pandemic immigration could hypothetically affect the job-finding rate. First, noncitizens may have systematically lower job-finding rates than citizens. Second, during slowdowns, noncitizens’ job-finding and other transition rates may deteriorate more rapidly and ...
Journal Article
Will US Firms Adopt Stablecoins? Survey Says They're Not Enthusiastic
We surveyed 148 firms active in the Fourth District about whether they had plans to use stablecoins. Responses were overwhelmingly negative, with only eight of our contacts expressing any such plans. Asked why they did not plan to use stablecoins, respondents cited satisfaction with existing payment methods, unfamiliarity with the new technology, and a lack of demand from clients and suppliers to pay using stablecoins.
Journal Article
Can the IRA and CHIPS Act Reduce Labor Earnings Inequality? Lessons from the US Shale Boom
We study how the US shale boom decreased labor earnings inequality by increasing demand for low-skill labor in small labor markets. The similarities in the concentrated geographic distribution of investments and the labor needed to build capacity between the US shale boom and the manufacturing construction influx that has followed the passage of the IRA and CHIPS and Science Acts raise the possibility that these bills could also impact labor earnings inequality in a similar way.