Mechanism Design and Payment Systems Analysis

这个项目的重点是如何设计一个有效的银行间支付系统。这样的支付是现代金融体系的一个基本特征。支票、自动取款机交易以及个人账户的直接存款和借记都涉及将资金从一家银行转移到另一家银行。PI将利用微观经济理论的最新发展来回答一些研究问题。首先，他将考虑高效支付系统的结构。一种可能性是，所有银行都可以直接进入该系统。另一种可能性是，较小的银行将各自与一家特定的较大的“代理”银行建立关系；然后，这些较大的银行将为其较小的合作伙伴进行银行间支付。第二个研究问题是如何确定银行短期借款的最高限额。这些“上限”可能被设定在一个固定的水平，或者它们可能因银行而异，并基于特定银行的交易历史。设定这些上限决定了支付系统的重要特征，因为上限定义了银行间转账的最大净额--除非有来自其他银行的资金，否则银行支付的金额不能超过其“上限”。第三个研究问题是如何最好地利用可用的信息来构建一个高效的支付系统。如果银行拥有关于其他银行的不完全信息，那么建立本地支付系统可能是一个很好的想法；位于同一地理区域的银行之间的信息可能比他们对该国不同地区的银行的信息更好。银行间支付系统的实力和灵活性是全球经济如何应对意外事件的重要组成部分。这包括金融危机、自然灾害和恐怖事件。因此，世界各地的中央银行越来越有兴趣了解如何设计有效的银行间转账系统。本研究正是针对这一需求展开的。

This project will focus on how to design an effective system for inter-bank payments. Such payments are a basic feature of a modern financial system. Checks, ATM transactions, and direct deposits and debits from individual accounts all involve transfering funds from one bank to a second bank. The PI will use recent developments in microeconomic theory to answer a number of research questions. First, he will consider the structure of an efficient payment system. One possibility is that all banks have direct access to the system. Another possibility is that smaller banks would each have a relationship with a specific larger "correspondent" bank; these larger banks would then make interbank payments for their smaller partners. The second research question is how to determine the maximum amount that a bank can borrow on a short term basis. These "caps" might be set at a fixed level, or they might vary from bank to bank and be based on a specific bank's history of transactions. Setting these caps determines important features of the payment system, since the cap defines the maximum net amount of interbank transfers -- a bank cannot pay more than its "cap" amount unless it has funds coming in from other banks.The third research question is how to best use the available information to structure an efficient payment system. If banks have incomplete information about other banks, then setting up local payment systems might be an excellent idea; banks in the same geographic area may have better information about each other than they would have about a bank in a different part of the country.The strength and flexibility of interbank payment systems is an important part of how the global economy responds to unanticipated events. This includes both financial crises, natural disasters, and terrorist events. Therefore, central banks throughout the world have been increasingly interested in understanding how to design effective interbank transfer systems. This research is aimed directly at this need.