Payments system

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Definition: Mechanisms designed for the movement of funds, payments, and money between financial institutions throughout the nation. The Federal Reserve plays a major role in the nation’s payments mechanism through distribution of currency and coin, check processing, wire transfer of funds, and the operation of automated clearinghouses that transfer funds electronically among depository institutions. Federal Reserve payments services are made available to both member banks and nonmember depository institutions on the basis of uniform pricing schedules.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Definition: Collective term for mechanisms (both paper-backed and electronic) for moving funds, payments and money among financial institutions throughout the nation. The Federal Reserve plays a major role in the nation’s payments system through distribution of currency and coin, processing of checks, electronic transfer of funds and the operation of automated clearinghouses that transfer funds electronically among depository institutions; various private organizations also perform payments system functions.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Definition: Collective term for mechanisms (both paper-backed and electronic) for moving funds, payments, and money among financial institutions throughout the nation. The Federal Reserve plays a major role in the nation’s payments system through distribution of currency and coin, processing of checks, electronic transfer of funds, and the operation of automated clearinghouses that transfer funds electronically among depository institutions; various private organizations also perform payments system functions.

Permissible nonbank activities

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Definition: Financial activities closely related to banking that may be engaged in by bank holding companies, either directly or through nonbank subsidiaries. Examples are owning finance companies and engaging in mortgage banking. The Board determines which activities are closely related to banking. Before making such activities permissible, the Board must also determine that performance of the activities by bank holding companies is in the public interest.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Definition: Financial activities closely related to banking that may be engaged in by bank holding companies (BHCs), either directly or through nonbank subsidiaries. For example, a BHC might own finance companies or engage in mortgage banking. The Federal Reserve Board determines which activities are closely related to banking. Before making such activities permissible, the Board must determine that performance of the activities by bank holding companies is in the public interest.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Definition: Financial activities closely related to banking that may be engaged in by bank holding companies (BHCs), either directly or through nonbank subsidiaries. For example, a BHC might own finance companies or engage in mortgage banking. The Federal Reserve Board determines which activities are closely related to banking. Before making such activities permissible, the Board must determine that performance of the activities by bank holding companies is in the public interest.

Poverty

U.S. Census Bureau

Definition: Following the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) Directive 14, the Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to detect who is poor. If a family’s total income is less than that family’s threshold, then that family, and every individual in it, is considered poor. The poverty thresholds do not vary geographically, but they are updated annually for inflation with the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). The official poverty definition counts money income before taxes and excludes capital gains and noncash benefits (such as public housing, medicaid, and food stamps). Poverty statistics are based on a definition developed by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security Administration (SSA) in 19642 and revised in 1969 and 1981 by interagency committees. This definition was established as the official definition of poverty for statistical use in all Executive departments by the Bureau of the Budget (BoB) in 1969 (in Circular No. A-46); after BoB became The Office of Management and Budget, this was reconfirmed in Statistical Policy Directive No. 14. The original poverty definition provided a range of income cutoffs or thresholds adjusted by such factors as family size, sex of the family head, number of children under 18 years old, and farm-nonfarm residence. At the core of this definition of poverty was the economy food plan, the least costly of four nutritionally adequate food plans designed by the Department of Agriculture. It was determined from the Department of Agriculture’s 1955 Household Food Consumption Survey that families of three or more people spent approximately one-third of their after-tax money income on food; accordingly, poverty thresholds for families of three or more people were set at three times the cost of the economy food plan. Different procedures were used to calculate poverty thresholds for two-person families and people living alone in order to compensate for the relatively larger fixed expenses of these smaller units. For two-person families, the cost of the economy food plan was multiplied by a factor of 3.7 (also derived from the 1955 survey). For unrelated individuals (one-person units), no multiplier was used; poverty thresholds were instead calculated as a fixed proportion of the corresponding thresholds for two-person units. Annual updates of these SSA poverty thresholds were based on price changes of the items in the economy food plan. As a result of deliberations of a Federal interagency committee in 1969, the following two modifications to the original SSA definition of poverty were adopted3: The SSA thresholds for nonfarm families were retained for the base year 1963, but annual adjustments in the levels were based on changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rather than on changes in the cost of foods in the economy food plan. The farm thresholds were raised from 70 to 85 percent of the corresponding nonfarm levels. The combined impact of these two modifications resulted in an increase in the tabulated totals for 1967 of 360,000 poor families and 1.6 million poor people. In 1981, three additional modifications in the poverty definition recommended by another interagency committee were adopted for implementation in the March 1982 CPS as well as the 1980 census: Elimination of separate thresholds for farm families. Elimination (by averaging) of separate thresholds for female-householder families and ”all other” families (earlier termed ”male-headed” families). Extension of the detailed poverty threshold matrix to make the largest family size category ”nine people or more”. For further details, see the section, ”Changes in the Definition of Poverty,” in Current Population Reports, Series P-60, No. 133. The poverty thresholds are increased each year by the same percentage as the annual average Consumer Price Index (CPI). The poverty thresholds are currently adjusted using the annual average CPI-U (1982-84 = 100). This base year has been used since 1988. From 1980 through 1987, the thresholds were adjusted using the CPI-U (1967 = 100). The CPI (1963 = 100) was used to adjust thresholds prior to 1980. For further information on how the poverty thresholds were developed and subsequent changes in them, see Gordon M. Fisher, ”The Development and History of the Poverty Thresholds,” Social Security Bulletin, vol.55, no.4, Winter 1992, pp. 3-14. ——————————————————————————– 2 For a detailed discussion of the original SSA poverty thresholds, see Mollie Orshansky, Counting the Poor: Another Look at the Poverty Profile, Social Security Bulletin, vol. 28, no. 1, January 1965, pp. 3-29 (reprinted in Social Security Bulletin, vol. 51, no. 10, October 1988, pp. 25-51); and Who’s Who Among the Poor: A Demographic View of Poverty, Social Security Bulletin, vol. 28, no. 7, July 1965, pp. 3-32. 3 Poverty thresholds for 1959-1967 were recalculated on this basis, and revised poverty population figures for those years were tabulated using the revised thresholds. These revised 1959-1967 poverty population figures have been published in Census Bureau reports issued since August 1969 (including the present report). Because of this revision, poverty statistics from documents dated before August 1969 are not comparable with current poverty statistics.

Productivity

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Definition: Productivity is a measure of economic efficiency which shows how effectively economic inputs are converted into output. Productivity is measured by comparing the amount of goods and services produced with the inputs which were used in production.

Economics: Principles & Practices

Definition: Degree to which productive resources are used efficiently; normally refers to labor, but can apply to all factors of production

Congressional Budget Office

Definition: Average real output per unit of input. Labor productivity is average real output per hour of labor. The growth of labor productivity is defined as the growth of real output that is not explained by the growth of labor input alone. Total factor productivity is average real output per unit of combined labor and capital inputs. The growth of total factor productivity is defined as the growth of real output that is not explained by the growth of labor and capital. Labor productivity and total factor productivity differ in that increases in capital per worker raise labor productivity but not total factor productivity. (BLS) See also capital input.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Definition: The amount of physical output produced for each unit of productive input; in other words, how much an average worker produces per hour, calculated by dividing real output by hours worked.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Definition: The amount of physical output for each unit of productive input.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Definition: The amount of physical output for each unit of productive input.