Privatizing Banking Regulation " Bert Ely argues for the privatization of prudential banking regulation. The present system whereby some banks are, in effect, deemed to big to fail has a strong moral hazard element - whereby banks are encouraged to take more risks because of this implicit guarantee. He proposes a system of cross-guarantee deposit insurance. Under this system an individual bank would negotiate a prudential regulatory contract with a syndicate of of guarantors - largely other banks. The syndicate would guarantee against loss of bank deposits. In return the syndicate would receive a negotiated risk-sensitive insurance premium.

By Bert Ely , US

Macro Economic Policy Resource.

Teenage Pregnancy. The increase numbers of children being born to teenage mothers is one of the more worrying trends in the UK and US. This is because far more children of teenagers are born into poverty and welfare dependence than babies born to older parents. Teen childbearing is very costly. A 1997 study by Rebecca Maynard of Mathematica Policy Research in Princeton, New Jersey, found that, after controlling for differences between teen mothers and mothers aged 20 or 21 when they had their first child, teen childbearing costs taxpayers more than $7 billion a year or $3,200 a year for each teenage birth, conservatively estimated. "What Can Be Done to Reduce Teen Pregnancy and Out-of-Wedlock Births?" by Isabel Sawhill discusses American attempts to reduce teenage pregnancy rates through a variety of programmes.

By Brookings Institution, US.

Family and Children Policy Resource.

The School to Work Transition. The US introduced the School to Work Opportunities Act in 1994 - it provided seed corn money to support states in setting up school to work systems. A wide variety of mentoring, work experience, internships and job shadowing. School to Work: Making a Difference in Education reviews the evaluation evidence from a wide variety of schemes - finding a range of positive outcomes from improved educational performance, a broadening of the career and educational options considered by students. By Katherine Hughes, Thomas Bailey and Melinda Mechur.

By Institute on Education and the Economy. , US.

Family and Children Policy Resource.

Universal Unified Child Credit . A proposal from the Economic Policy Institute to integrate the Earned Income Tax Credit with other US tax benefits and allowances. Detailed but concise, this paper addresses issues such as the high marginal tax rates, the marriage penalty and the complexity of application associated with the EITC. By Robert Cherry and Max B. Sawicky.

By Economic Policy Institute, US.

Family and Children Policy Resource.