Mechanism Design and Payment Systems Analysis

本项目将重点研究如何设计一个有效的银行间支付系统。 这种支付是现代金融体系的基本特征。 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将使用微观经济理论的最新发展来回答一些研究问题。 首先，他将考虑有效支付系统的结构。 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，小银行将各自与一家特定的较大的“代理”银行建立关系;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”可能设定在一个固定的水平，也可能因银行而异，并以特定银行的交易历史为基础。 设置这些上限决定了支付系统的重要特征，因为上限规定了银行间转账的最大净金额--除非有其他银行的资金流入，否则银行不能支付超过其“上限”的金额。第三个研究问题是如何最好地利用现有信息来构建一个有效的支付系统。 如果银行对其他银行的信息不完整，那么建立本地支付系统可能是一个很好的主意;同一地理区域的银行可能比不同地区的银行拥有更好的信息。银行间支付系统的强度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、自然灾害和恐怖主义事件。 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而开展的。

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.