Domestic US Research Articles

EFSA's assistance for the 2015 Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Food (CCRVDF) in relation to rBST

EFSA's assistance for the 2015 Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Food (CCRVDF) in relation to rBST

Questions of fairness and anti-doping in US cycling: The contrasting experiences of professionals and amateurs

The focus of researchers, media and policy on doping in cycling is often limited to the professional level of the sport. However, anti-doping test results since 2001 demonstrate that banned substances are also used by US cyclists at lower levels of the sport, necessitating a broader view of the patterns and motivations of substance use within the sport. In this article, we describe and explain the doping culture that has emerged in domestic US cycling among amateur and semi-professionals. Through analysis of records from sports governing bodies and journalistic reports, we assess the range of violation types and discuss the detection and punishing of riders who were not proven to have intended to cheat but became “collateral damage” in the war on doping. We argue that the phenomenon of doping is more complex than what has been shown to occur in elite sport, as it includes a wider variety of behaviours, situations and motivations. We develop fresh insights by examining cases where doping has been accidental, intrinsically motivated, non-performance enhancing or the result of prescribed medical treatments banned by anti-doping authorities. Such trends call into question the fairness of anti-doping measures, and we discuss the possibility of developing localised solutions to testing and sanctioning amateur athletes.

Reconsidering Why We Lost

Adding to the Special Commentary in the Winter 2014-15 issue of Parameters (vol. 44, no. 4), Daniel Glickstein gives Daniel Bolger's Why We Lost an Incomplete grade. Why We Lost offers an inside account of the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts by retired Lieutenant General Daniel Bolger. It cites hyper-realistic descriptions of tactical firefights and conducts broad, strategic discourse on the major policy goals of those wars. Chapters of the book characterize many of the prominent military and civilian personalities involved, but I hew here to General Bolger's strategic commentary and would like to single out three key points for further scrutiny: * the lack of cohesive enemy in both Iraq and Afghanistan; * how deeply the oscillation of American support and the broadcasted deadline for an American presence impacted the readiness of the Afghan Security Forces (ANSF), and the strategic calculus of our enemies; and, lastly, * the importance of buy-in from local civilians and the cooperation of local security forces in forging an enduring stability. Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy The most vexing problem for tactical forces in Iraq and Afghanistan was identifying the enemy. As General Bolger noted, our technology and training sent every American platoon of soldiers into action confident that they could slay their antagonists with impunity today, tonight, and as long as it took ... as long as the Americans could find the enemy. As usual, therein lay the rub. (426) With the exception of periodic Special Operations Forces raids and larger conventional operations (valley sweeps with blocking positions, etc.), the average day consisted of clearing routes of improvised explosive devices and meeting with local national leaders, including periodic interruptions of indirect-fire attacks and ineffective hit-and-run ambushes. Usually, coalition forces could expect to escape unscathed, and in some instances even pick off few of the slower antagonists. But a gaggle of one-sided firefights ... do not victory make, especially against guerilla enemies. (428) Additionally, there was failure to acknowledge the diversity of antagonists in each theater. AI Qaeda and the Taliban took center stage and presented the strongest threat to American soldiers. But organized groups such as the Haqqani Network and Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, Muqtada Al-Sadr's Jaish al-Mahdi militia, and non-affiliated local nationals interspersed into the Afghan and Iraqi mix as well. General Bolger states were drawn into nasty local feuds, we took on too many diverse foes, sometimes confusing supporters with opponents and vice versa. (429-430) The counterinsurgency canon that came to the forefront by 2006 posited that providing services to the population and protecting them against the insurgents would win greater popular support and weaken the enemy. But troops already stretched too thinly could not guarantee 24/7 protection for civilians across each theater, and all the afore-mentioned foes had ample opportunity to threaten, coerce, or cajole varying levels of support. And appeals and strategies that might work to counter the Taliban proved completely ineffective against the violence of farmer angry at events such as Robert Bales' murder of Afghan civilians in 2012. Short-term Commitment Another major point raised by General Bolger is the irreparable damage stemming from the media-shaped erosion of long-term US commitment. By the late 2000's, the American public's tolerance for extended, bloody campaigns abroad as fading fast, and many politicians were echoing this sentiment. The antagonists in Iraq and Afghanistan, no strangers to using the internet and social media to study the enemy, were well aware of this shift in domestic US politics. Predictably, the insurgents were willing to bide their time, avoid risky and decisive engagements, and wait for the international coalition and American forces to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan. …

Ancient onset of geographical divergence, interpopulation genetic exchange, and natural selection on theMc1rcoat-colour gene in the house mouse (Mus musculus)

We examined genetic variation in house mice from India and Pakistan, a predominant part of the predicted homeland of this species and also the territory of the subspecies Mus musculus castaneus (CAS), using a nuclear marker for seven tandemly arranged genes (Fanca–Spire2–Tcf25–Mc1r–Def8–Afg3l1–Dbndd1) and compared them with those previously determined for mice from other parts of Eurasia. Construction of a network with the concatenate sequences yielded three distinct clusters representing the three major subspecies groups: CAS, Mus musculus domesticus (DOM) and Mus musculus musculus (MUS). STRUCTURE analysis provided evidence for further subdivision of CAS into two main haplogroups within the Indian subcontinent. Single-gene networks revealed not only gene-specific architecture for subgrouping in CAS, but also allelic exchange among subspecies. These results suggest the earlier onset of allopatric divergence in the predicted homeland (the Middle East and Indian subcontinent) and subsequent intermittent admixing via gene flow across the CAS haplogroups and among the three subspecies groups. A comparison of the levels of nucleotide diversity among the gene regions revealed a less divergent state in the chromosome region containing Mc1r and its adjacent genes, indicative of a selective sweep, suggesting the involvement of natural selection in the Mc1r allelic variation.

Overview of technical advances that encourage domestic US tar sand development

US domestic tar sand estimated resource exceeds 60 billion barrels (bbl). Production of this resource has been insignificant. Traditional petroleum production methods cannot be applied. Tar sand is highly viscous because over geologic time it was exposed to fluid pathways whereby the light ends could evaporate. The most easily accessible reservoirs are still available. The recent advances in oil/gas production technologies that have made other non-traditional resources capable of development have yet to be applied to tar sand development. Successful tar sand development would also displace some of the considerable imports of asphalt. There are two approaches to US domestic tar sand extraction: mining and subsequent surface processing, and in situ methods. Surface extraction falls into two categories: water or solvent extraction and pyrolytic techniques. In situ extraction attempts have focused on thermal methods [steam flood, electromagnetic radiation (EMR), etc.]. The desired end product determines the extraction method. [Received: December 10, 2013; Accepted: February 20, 2014]

Do Poorly Governed Acquirers Transfer Wealth to Targets in Cross‐Border Acquisitions?

We use the number of antitakeover provisions (ATPs) as a proxy for corporate governance and examine its impact in US domestic and foreign acquisitions made by US acquirers. We find that the targets of poorly governed acquirers earn higher postannouncement premiums, despite controls for deal characteristics, macroeconomic conditions, and country‐level protections, suggesting that these acquirers overpay. Puzzlingly, in contrast with the domestic US findings of Masulis, Wang, and Xie, poorly governed acquirers in cross‐border deals experience higher announcement period returns. The relation between governance and target returns appears concave, but this nonlinearity disappears once differences in country‐level governance and deal characteristics are accounted for.

Corporate Inversions - Background, Causes, and Policy Options

Corporate inversions have been front page news during most of 2014. In addition to providing background on inversions, this presentation discusses why inversions are occurring and various policy options.What is the primary driver of inversions? Contrary to many public reports, the 35% US corporate tax rate is not the cause. Rather, US MNCs have shifted so much income to tax havens that they have a liquidity issue (i.e., the lock-out effect). In addition, US MNCs may also be worried the SEC and their external auditors could start questioning their assumption that foreign earnings are indefinitely reinvested.Treasury Notice 2014-52 puts some fingers in the proverbial dike, but the bottom line is that inversions are going to continue until the US modifies its tax system. US MNCs want a territorial system with minimal base erosion protections, while others would accept a territorial system with strong base erosion protections. Both options have major issues. The ideal solution would be to attempt to equalize the tax burden of US MNCs, foreign MNCs, and domestic US businesses. This could be accomplished if the US viewed itself as a source country and based its tax on the volume of sales to US customers. Many US states have effectively adopted this approach because of the fierce tax competition among states.

Abstract IA19: Canine cancer genetics: What dogs can tell us about ourselves

Abstract The 165 domestic US dogs breeds display tremendous morphologic variation, making them an appealing model for the identification of genetic regulators of vertebrate shape and development and disease susceptibility. We have genotyped over 1000 dogs representing 85 domestic breeds to generate a reference dataset on over 60,000 informative SNPs per dog. This, combined with morphometric data has allowed us to map and sequence loci that control various features of breed-specific traits related to shape and size. In addition to helping us understand the genetics of morphologic variation, the underlying loci have also helped us understand the genetics of growth regulation. We now have a clearer sense of how variation is created in body size, leg length, head shape and other features that define various breeds of dog because of such studies. The domestic dog is also a robust model for studying the genetics of disease susceptibility as some breeds harbor an elevated risk, particularly for types of cancer, in spite of a relatively simple genetic architecture that is common to all dogs. One example of breed-specific disease propensity is squamous cell carcinoma of the digit (SCCoD), a locally aggressive cancer that frequently causes lytic bone lesions and multiple toe recurrence. SCCoD is uncommon in most dog breeds, but occurs in Schnauzers, Briards, and Standard Poodles, who are at about a 10-fold increased risk. Another cancer of interest to humans and dogs is transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder, which we observe at increased risk in Scottish Terriers (22 fold increased risk), West Highland White Terriers and Shelties. A final example is histiocytic carcinoma, which is common to Flat Coated Retrievers and Bernese Mountain dogs. Advances in genomic technologies, together with valued clinical collaborations, have allowed us to undertake studies aimed at understanding the genetic susceptibility of each. Key to advancing these studies has been the availability of dense SNP chips and the ever-increasing amount of data on a variety of dog breeds. We will report on our progress on each. Citation Format: Elaine A. Ostrander. Canine cancer genetics: What dogs can tell us about ourselves. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: The Translational Impact of Model Organisms in Cancer; Nov 5-8, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2014;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr IA19.

Comparing the impact of future airline network change on emissions in India and the United States

In this paper we use simulation to analyze how flight routing network structure may change in different world regions, and how this might impact future traffic growth and emissions. We compare models of the domestic Indian and US air transportation systems, representing developing and mature air transportation systems respectively. We explicitly model passenger and airline decision-making, capturing passenger demand effects and airline operational responses, including airline network change. The models are applied to simulate air transportation system growth for networks of 49 airports in each country from 2005 to 2050. In India, the percentage of connecting passengers simulated decreases significantly (from over 40% in 2005 to under 10% in 2050), indicating that a shift in network structure towards increased point-to-point routing can be expected. In contrast, very little network change is simulated for the US airport set modeled. The simulated impact of network change on system CO2 emissions is very small, although in the case of India it could enable a large increase in demand, and therefore a significant reduction in emissions per passenger (by nearly 25%). NOx emissions at major hub airports are also estimated, and could initially reduce relative to a case in which network change is not simulated (by nearly 25% in the case of Mumbai in 2025). This effect, however, is significantly reduced by 2050 because of frequency competition effects. We conclude that network effects are important when estimating CO2 emissions per passenger and local air quality effects at hub airports in developing air transportation systems.

The conundrum of the inflight security officer (IFSO)

A heightened awareness of the need for strengthened security on board aircraft surfaced in the aftermath of the events of 9/11 where armed hijackers took over several aircraft and deviated them to targets on the ground. Awareness of aviation security and the need for implementation of more stringent security measures inside the aircraft, both while it is on ground and when it is airborne, became critical determinants. One could well ask the question, if there are “bouncers” at night clubs, railway security in the trains, and hotel security in hotels to protect hapless staff who serve customers, why is there no such protection for the transportation industry? At any given time, aircraft of commercial airlines keep 1.2 million passengers aloft. In the process, these airlines carry thieves, pickpockets, drug addicts and con men, among other passengers. Most States do not have legislation to respond to crimes on board aircraft. A few years ago, there was concern in the airline industry for a stewardess who was critically wounded with a knife by a drunken passenger who was a British subject, on board an aircraft flying over German territory and registered in the Middle East. When the aircraft landed in its destination, the offender was only fined $1,000 and released, as there were no laws in that country which would apply to the offense. In September 2001 after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the United States Government decided that most, if not all, domestic US flights are to have "air marshals" carrying firearms on board. In December 2003 the British Government decided to deploy armed undercover sky marshals to counter heightened fears of terrorist attacks. This measure involved the presence on board British aircraft of undisclosed, highly trained police marks-men with special low-veloocity arms. Other possible measures taken included changes to screening at airports, improving the protection of airliners on the ground and security systems to prevent hijacks.

Partisan Politics and Federal Spending at the State Level

Research on the distribution of federal expenditures has provided mixed evidence showing that states with more legislators who belong to the president's party and states with more legislators in the chamber majority tend to receive a larger allocation of federal funds. We add to this research by considering how political polarization and political alignment impact these presidential and congressional determinants of how the domestic US budget is distributed to the states. We find robust evidence showing that the way a state benefits from having its Senate delegation in the majority is conditioned on the level of political polarization in the Senate. Additionally, we find some evidence that a state with both senators in the majority is able to secure a larger share of federal grant spending per capita when that party also controls the House, however this evidence is less robust.

Market Power, Efficiencies, and Entry Evidence from an Airline Merger

We investigate the competitive effects of the merger between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines (2009) in the domestic US airline industry. Applying fixed‐effects regression models, we find that the transaction led to short‐term price increases of about 11% on overlapping routes and about 10% on routes that experienced a merger‐induced switch of the operating carrier. Over a longer period, however, our estimation results are consistent with the hypothesis that both merger efficiencies and postmerger entry by competitors initiated a downward trend in price, leaving consumers with a small net price increase of about 3% on the affected routes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Internationalization and Financial Health in the US Hotel Industry

This study examines two main hypotheses regarding the internationalization and financial health of publicly traded US hotels from 1990 to 2010. First, the study hypothesizes that international US hotels are financially healthier than domestic US hotels. The findings support the hypothesis after controlling for other potential confounding factors: a firm's growth opportunity, profitability, size, leverage, capital intensity and economic conditions. Next, the study tests the second hypothesis, that international US hotels face a great challenge in terms of their financial health as they enter foreign markets due to the many unknown factors in such international settings. However, it is expected that the internationalization strategy will gradually provide more benefits as the firm increases its degree of internationalization, and thus that benefits will eventually outweigh costs, leading to a U-shaped relationship. The study's findings support this curvilinear U-shaped relationship within the dataset of internationally operating US hotels.

German Expansionism, Imperial Liberalism and the United States, 1776-1945

The main argument of Jan-Uwe Guettel’s book is that Germany’s imperial liberalism, which began in the mid-nineteenth century, was racist and expansionist, drawing as it did both on examples of westward expansion in the USA and on the discriminating racial politics prevalent in the American South to further the cause of German colonies. The perception of America as a liberal colonial empire was incorporated into German liberal theories from the late eighteenth century, and put into practice in the late nineteenth century when colonial debates in the Reichstag allowed for a framing of issues that transcended political lines. In defining liberalism, Guettel notes that, in the aftermath of the Second World War, it is often seen as a relatively benign concept when compared with Nazism. He disputes this, positing that nineteenth- and early twentieth-century imperial liberalism was infused with violence, racism and oppression. In his lengthy introduction Guettel argues that German colonialism was supported and championed by German liberals, a stance contrary to traditional historical narratives, yet one aired by various newer studies. He draws upon a wide range of secondary literature (watch out for footnote 7, which is almost two manuscript pages long) to contextualize and describe the intellectual development of this historiography in reference to German history. His broader argumentation throughout the book questions the three prevailing methodologies describing German liberalism: cultural pessimists (Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer); those who see European colonialism as the origin of European totalitarian ideologies (Hannah Arendt and others); and those advocating the theory of a German Sonderweg. In describing the historiography of the positive exceptionalism of America’s imperial and colonial past, Guettel draws upon a much smaller and predominantly older set of sources than he does for the German historiography. This sets the tone for the focus upon German domestic and international politics as opposed to domestic US politics.

"A Cross-National Comparison of Linkages among Strategic Goals, Customer Habits & Firm-Level Outcomes"

Profiting from the substantial economic growth outside the Western economies requires firms to develop a profound understanding of effective strategies for global operations. In particular, much debate has been offered on management practices that are applicable to trigger desired customer behavior, especially, to enhance firm-level outcomes in terms of customer loyalty and word-of-mouth referral. However, research on mechanisms that can help drive such customer behavior has mainly focused on consumers’ intentional processes, which ignores the fact that frequently performed behaviors become automatic over time. Ignoring habit-persistency effects may result in systematically overestimating the effects of other practices firms adopt to influence customer behavior, e.g. striving for strategic goals like customer satisfaction or firm reputation. Against this background, this study contributes to the literature by integrating the concepts of habit creation, customer satisfaction and firm reputation and by generating cross-national insights into their effects on firm-level outcomes in terms of loyalty and word-of-mouth. Applying multigroup structural equation modeling, the analyses draw on two global fast food companies’ consumer data collected in the BRIC and their domestic US market. The results document essentially diverging nomological linkages among the concepts under study across nations and provide important intuitions on how global companies strategize best when going international.

Navigating US greenways: US political reflections in An Inconvenient Truth

Environmental discourses resonate with certain intrinsic values over others and shape environmental behaviours. Political ideology offers a powerful values-based heuristic for evaluating environmental messaging. The USA is a major global producer of greenhouse gases and the greatest industrialized nation holdout to political reform. A deeper understanding of the specific political-ideological forces at play in the US environmental debate can yield greater understanding of domestic ideology-based tensions and international US intractability by offering insight to the evolution of the US environmental movement and its political supporters and adversaries at home. Understanding what occurs within the US mindset in environmental discussions can help representatives of other nations frame more effective arguments and lead to policy reform. A textual analysis of a US environmental artefact deemed key to raising US global warming awareness, the documentary An Inconvenient Truth (2006), reveals that US politician/creator Al Gore simultaneously appeals to each of the three disparate – and conflicting – US political ideologies (liberalism, traditionalist conservatism, and individualist conservatism). The result is a transcendence of global warming from its entrenched liberal identity to moral identity, beyond political ideology, making it more comfortably accessible by members of multiple political ideologies rather than just liberals. Understanding the inherent US political-ideological dynamics of global warming can help the progress of this movement by informing framing of policy-shaping arguments.

Net-Net Number: Implications & Conclusions

“Perhaps one could even determine whether the market level was getting too high or too low by counting the number of issues selling below working capital value.” Benjamin Graham.Most are aware of modern market valuation indicators include the trailing, median P/E ratio, Q ratio (market price relative to replacement cost) and the dividend-price ratio among others. Leaving the utility of these leading indicators aside, there is a method which remains altogether ignored and under-appreciated by the vast majority of market participants today. That is, the number of net-nets (companies valued below their net working capital minus all liabilities, ignoring the property and other assets completely) present at any given time on domestic US markets.The modest objective of this paper is to present the implications of this oft-overlooked indicator relative to market over/under valuation as a whole in the past (1929-2011) and therefrom help draw conclusions as to its ultimate utility in the present.

Measurement and associations of pregnancy risk factors with genetic influences, postnatal environmental influences, and toddler behavior

This study demonstrates the unique contributions of perinatal risk and genetic and environmental influences on child behavior using data from 561 domestic US adoption triads (birth mothers, adopted child, and adoptive parents). Findings show distinct patterns of associations among genetic (birth mother psychopathology), prenatal (six maternal reported aggregate scores characterizing total obstetric complications, perinatal internalizing symptoms, pregnancy complications, exposure to toxins, substance use, and neonatal complications), and postnatal influences (adoptive parent 18-month internalizing symptoms and over-reactive parenting) and toddler behavior problems (CBCL subscales at 27 months). Findings highlight multiple pathways for toddler’s behavioral development, including genetic, pregnancy, and postnatal main effects. Findings suggest distinct types of pregnancy risk may transmit genetic influences for specific behavior problems rather than broadband problems.

Tight Resources, Promising Economics: The Permian Basin Continues Yielding Liquid Riches

Permian Basin There is no doubt that the 86,000-sq-mile Permian Basin, encompassing 52 counties in west Texas and eastern New Mexico, is experiencing a renaissance in drilling activity. According to the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), the Texas Permian Basin rig count climbed from 129 in 2005 to 355 in 2011, sustaining a dip to 103 in 2009 with no drop in crude oil production. Total Permian Basin rig count climbed to 500 in May 2012, according to a US Energy Information Administration (EIA) report, and as of late December 2012, stood at 454. The number of drilling permits issued by the RRC has exhibited a similar rise, from 4,459 in 2005, with a downdip to 3,369 in 2009 and then a steep climb to 9,347 in 2011. The price of natural gas remains depressed in the US, largely because of a glut due to a rush to exploit very tight gas resources in shale plays such as the Marcellus, Eagle Ford, Barnett, Haynesville-Bossier, Fayetteville, Woodford, and Bakken. A trend over the past few years has therefore been building towards a focus on liquids-rich plays. As a result, US production of crude oil is reaching levels not seen in 15 years, at approximately 2.1 billion bbl/year as of September 2012, according to the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) EIA. The US now produces an average of 6.41 million BOPD, a 14% increase from 2011, according to a December 2012 DOE report—around 50% of the crude oil it consumes. The two US states emerging as yielding the greatest amount of liquids are North Dakota (the Bakken) and Texas (Permian Basin and Eagle Ford). From September 2011 through September 2012, Texas onshore crude oil production increased by more than 500,000 BOPD, due to increases in Eagle Ford and Permian Basin production. The Permian Basin now accounts for more than 18% of domestic US crude oil supply. It has more than 400 active drilling rigs, by far the most of any US basin, that are drilling a large number of wells very quickly. The EIA estimates (Fig. 1) that crude oil production from the Permian Basin surpassed 1.25 million B/D in November 2012, 33% greater than the estimated 0.93 million B/D in the Western Gulf basin and 45% greater than the 0.86 million B/D in the Williston basin.

유로존 위기의 은행 문제와 그 간단한 모형

In Eurozone crisis, the enormous debt that European banks have accumulated in booming periods has played an important role of market amplification mechanism and has aggravated the market crash in falling markets. In addition, the misplaced regulation has made the situation worse at the same time. In this context, the paper investigates the problem of European banks in terms of various data and statistics, and proposes a brief model which could explain how the problem of European banks amplifies the market crash during the crisis. The brief model is based on expansion/contraction of the balance sheet. If the price of a risky asset goes up from p to p’, the price of a representative European bank’s equity rises from e to e’ as well. As the equity price rises from e to e’, an European bank makes its optimal selection on a risky asset by increasing y to y’. An important point is that the process of increasing y to y’ involves 2 separate steps. When e rises to e’, the asset size rises to start with, which is the first step of increasing y to y’. As the asset size rises, however, more rooms are made to use more debt, while satisfying VaR requirement, because of the first step of increasing y to y’. Then the use of more debt leads to the second step of rise in the asset size. As a result, debt and asset of a representative European bank move upward in a lock step (i.e. 1:1 ratio) in booming periods. Note that a representative European bank satisfies Basel requirements easily, and yet as the first step its asset size goes up with increase in equity, and its asset size continues to rise when the bank uses extra debt, which is the second step of rise. As the market turns its swing during 2007-8 global crisis, the opposite happened. When the price of a risky asset falls, the price of equity falls, leading to the first step of decreasing y’ to y. Deleveraging then follows, which makes the asset size further contracted. Hence, a vicious cycle. Since European banks are closely related to American financial markets and its shadow banking system, 2007-8 global crisis affected the Eurozone and worsened the matters in Eurozone. By the same token, the Eurozone crisis will certainly affect the United States, if it is not well taken care of. BIS banking statistics point to the combination of two important features for understanding Eurozone crisis. First, the US-dollar denominated assets of banks outside the United States are comparable in size to the total assets of the US commercial banking sector, peaking at over $10 trillion prior to the crisis. The BIS banking statistics reveal that a substantial portion of external US dollar claims are the claims of European banks against US counterparties. Second, on the funding side, European banks have been financed their activities by tapping the wholesale funding market in the US. For instance, the interoffice accounts of foreign bank branches in the US reveal that foreign banks were raising large amounts of US dollar funding in the US and then channeling the funds to head office. Through these and other means, the large gross claims of European banks on US counterparties are matched by their large gross liabilities to US-based savers. As a result, European banks draw wholesale funding from the US and then lend it back to US residents. Although European banks’ presence in the domestic US commercial banking sector may not look large, their impact on overall credit conditions looms much larger through the shadow banking system in the United States that relies on capital market-based financial intermediaries who intermediate funds through securitization of claims.