The New England Advisory Council (NEAC) is comprised of leaders of small- to mid-sized businesses throughout New England. Members advise the Bank on economic matters throughout the Federal Reserve’s First District.

Members advise the Bank about underlying trends in the economy as viewed through the prisms of their own companies and respective industries. In spirited roundtable discussions, NEAC members share perspectives on a range of business conditions including revenue forecasts, employment practices, capital spending and access to credit, among other issues.

The NEAC meets quarterly and is convened by the Boston Fed president. Members typically rotate every two to three years.

Each year, the Boston Fed seeks exceptional college graduates who are prepared to take an active role in economic research, state and local public policy analysis, and regulatory and monetary policymaking. Research assistant positions are available in the Research Department, and the Supervisory Research and Analysis Unit of the Supervision, Regulation and Credit Department.

Our research assistants (RAs) have undergraduate degrees with a concentration or extensive coursework in economics or in related fields such as mathematics, statistics, computer science, or finance. Applicants must possess an excellent academic record, proficiency with at least one statistical software package such as MATLAB, Stata, or “R”, and strong written and oral communication skills. Applicants must demonstrate the ability to work independently and within strict time constraints. Previous experience in economic research is desirable. Typically, our RAs work at the Boston Fed for a...

More New England banks than ever are offering mobile peer-to-peer payment services, the kind friends use to settle a bill at a restaurant.

But few financial institutions are promoting contactless cards – though that could be changing in a time of COVID-19.

And the biggest security worry for banks and credit unions isn’t vulnerabilities caused by customers anymore. It’s about fraud that happens when plastic debit or credit cards are nowhere to be seen.

Those were a few key findings of the 2019 Mobile Banking and Payment Survey of New England Financial Institutions. This year’s regional report is part of a broader Federal Reserve survey of banking and mobile payments attitudes and developments across the U.S.

The answers from 130 respondents across the six New England states mirror those from across the U.S., said Marianne Crowe, a vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, a payments expert, and co-author of...

Despite multiple court cases and repeated efforts at reform, there are still significant concerns about the equity and the adequacy in Connecticut’s public K–12 education funding. One vital component of any attempt to reform education finance is a methodologically rigorous evaluation of what it would cost school districts across the state to achieve target performance standards given their student characteristics.

This report addresses that need, evaluating the equity and the adequacy of school spending in Connecticut based on education costs. Different from actual school expenditure, a district’s education cost is an estimation based on its cost factors that are outside the direct control of local officials at any given point in time; efficiency levels are held constant across school districts in the estimation. This report finds large disparities in education costs due to differences among school districts in cost factors. It also finds that, despite existing...

Despite multiple court cases and repeated efforts at reform, there are still significant concerns about the equity and the adequacy in Connecticut’s public K–12 education funding. One vital component of any attempt to reform education finance is a methodologically rigorous evaluation of what it would cost school districts across the state to achieve target performance standards given their student characteristics.

This report addresses that need, evaluating the equity and the adequacy of school spending in Connecticut based on education costs. Different from actual school expenditure, a district’s education cost is an estimation based on its cost factors that are outside the direct control of local officials at any given point in time; efficiency levels are held constant across school districts in the estimation. This report finds large disparities in education costs due to differences among school districts in cost factors. It also finds that, despite existing...

Despite multiple court cases and repeated efforts at reform, there are still significant concerns about the equity and the adequacy in Connecticut’s public K–12 education funding. One vital component of any attempt to reform education finance is a methodologically rigorous evaluation of what it would cost school districts across the state to achieve target performance standards given their student characteristics.

This report addresses that need, evaluating the equity and the adequacy of school spending in Connecticut based on education costs. Different from actual school expenditure, a district’s education cost is an estimation based on its cost factors that are outside the direct control of local officials at any given point in time; efficiency levels are held constant across school districts in the estimation. This report finds large disparities in education costs due to differences among school districts in cost factors. It also finds that, despite existing...

This paper’s study of Connecticut’s education costs can serve as the foundation of an equitable and adequate state education aid formula. To the best of the author’s knowledge, it is the first cost function study of Connecticut public K–12 education. The author uses a regression model to estimate how much it costs each district to achieve a common student performance target level, as measured by statewide standardized testing, given student characteristics and other cost factors that are outside the direct control of local officials at any given point in time. The analysis shows the disparities in education costs across school districts and the equity and adequacy of each district’s spending relative to its costs for achieving a common student performance target level.

On July 17, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced an expansion of the Main Street Lending Program to provide greater access to credit for nonprofit organizations such as educational institutions, hospitals, and social service organizations. This webinar is an opportunity for lenders to learn about the Main Street Lending Program’s nonprofit loan purchase process. The session will discuss, among other things, how lenders will navigate through the Main Street Lender Portal and required documentation for nonprofit loan purchases. The webinar is also an opportunity for lenders to get answers to questions from senior officials from the Federal Reserve.

The Main Street Lending Program is designed to support small and medium-sized U.S. for-profit and nonprofit businesses during this period of financial strain by giving these businesses access to additional credit. The program is intended to help businesses that were in sound financial condition prior to...