For immediate release

The Federal Reserve System today published on the Internet the proceedings of a research conference, Business Access to Capital and Credit, held March 8-9, 1999, in Arlington, Va. Economists and scholars presented papers at the conference, which was sponsored by the System's Community Affairs officers. Topics included access to credit for minority-owned businesses, microenterprise lending, and credit scoring and securitization of small-business loans. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan presented the keynote address and Edward M. Gramlich, a member of the Board of Governors, delivered a luncheon address. The conference proceedings -- including a summary, final versions of fifteen working papers and commentary -- are available through the Web sites of the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago at, respectively, http://www.federalreserve.gov/community.htm and http://www.chi.frb.org/cedric/cedric.html The next research conference, Changing Financial Markets and Community Development, will be held in Spring 2001 in Washington, D.C. A call for papers is planned for Fall 1999.

1999 Other announcements