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Stock options can align employee and shareholder interests. But they aren't free to issue, despite the way firms have been allowed to report them — until now. In the cover story of the Winter 2007 issue of Region Focus, Doug Campbell explains how economic and accounting principles are finally merging with the adoption of a new financial reporting rule.

Also in this issue:

• Phoning It In: Telecommuting hasn't become the commonplace work alternative its advocates anticipated. But the flexibility it offers has helped many companies and employees.
• Bringing in the Unbanked: If banks want business from Hispanics, they must show that the actual benefits of opening an account are larger, and the costs smaller, than perceived.
• Milton Friedman and Liberty: A former student of Friedman's says the late economist's ideas remain essential if we wish to see a free, prosperous, and peaceful world.
• Interview: Robert Fogel, economic historian and co-winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in economics.

Region Focus, a quarterly business magazine published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, covers the economy and business activities of the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and most of West Virginia.

For free copies of Region Focus, contact the Bank's Public Affairs Department at 804.697.8109. The articles are available online at the Bank's Web site.

The Richmond Fed serves the Fifth Federal Reserve District, which includes the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and most of West Virginia. As part of the nation's central bank, we're one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that work together with the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors to strengthen the economy and our communities. We manage the nation's money supply to keep inflation low and help the economy grow. We also supervise and regulate financial institutions to help safeguard our nation's financial system and protect the integrity and efficiency of our payments system.

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