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Academic and government research regarding the affordability of household drinking water and sewer utility (water utility) costs have resulted in the development of several methodologies that have been tested at various geographic levels. A New Jersey study on potential household affordability stresses from water utility costs at or below the Census tract‐level estimates that approximately one‐fifth of all New Jersey households could face affordability stresses, assuming that they directly pay all water utility costs. The methodology is adapted from the Affordability Ratio method of Teodoro. The results show the potential for use of county‐level household essential expenditure estimates in areas with high‐density populations. They also show the value of the methodology as a basis for policy discussions regarding the severity and geographic distribution of affordability stresses, as the analysis clearly indicates that significant affordability stresses exist in many suburban municipalities and rural town centers, not just historic urban cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cost of providing water services is increasing, placing greater financial burdens on individual households and utilities. Five metrics were calculated at multiple volumes of water usage and were applied to 1791 utilities, estimating bills from 2020 rates data, to gauge financial burdens in four states. More than a fifth of the population in 77% of utilities was experiencing poverty, suggesting widespread poverty is a major contributor to utility financial capability challenges. The Income Dedicated to Water Service metric was developed to understand how many households share a similar financial burden, exploring both the depth and prevalence of affordability challenges. Depending on water use, a tenth to a third of households work more than a day each month to afford water bills. This approach and an interactive visualization tool bring greater transparency to understand the scale of affordability and financial capability challenges (https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/water-affordability/water-affordability-dashboard). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Hospital funding: constitutionality the additional service discount, which includes the parties are arguing about the legality of the hospital fee law, social service providers and their working group in the hospital care, rates and in the hospital charges mentioned in this provision and agreement does not include a discount for additional services.

This study examines the relationship between exchange rate exposure and firm-specific factors - firm size, maturity, level of international activity, a measure of natural-hedging - using panel data approach. Exchange rate exposure of Turkish firms between 2001 and 2003 is estimated using capital market approach. Results show that the size of the firm and the level of international activity are significant in lowering the exposure. In addition, firms that can be characterized as net-exporters or net-importers are more likely to have significant exposure to exchange rate movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents charts on finance and banking in the United States, as of May 2001. Terms of lending at commercial banks; Data on assets and liabilities of United States branches and agencies of foreign banks.

Demonstrates how inflation is an important factor in the rule-of-thumb's accuracy in accounting for income taxes. Rule-of-thumb method of adjusting discount rates for income taxes; What previous researchers have concluded about the rule-of-thumb adjustment for income taxes; Discount rates estimated by the unmodified rule-of-thumb.