SERIES CORRELATED WITH DEPOSITS 173
of total deposits to earning assets are accompanied by net decreases
 in gross and net earnings and in total expense, the net
amounts of the decrease in these series varying directly with the
amounts of increase in total deposits. Table 103 contains the
detail from which these generalizations are drawn.

TABLE 103

CORRELATION OF YEAR-TO-YEAR PERCENTAGE CHANGES OF DISTRICT
RATIOS IN PAIRED SERIES

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE—Ratios of
Total Deposits to Earning Assets
Amount of Char:

Direction

Percentage
Groups

Average
Jercentage

Number
of
District-Years


DEPENDENT VARIABLES—Net
Average Percentage Change

Gross
Earnings
to
Earning
Assets

Total
Expense
to
Earning
Assets

Net
Earnings
to
Earning
Assets

Total

Increase

Decrease

5 and over...
1t06...
to4...
Thnder a

snder
2 to.
$4t06...
5 and over

Total

When year-to-year percentage changes of the ratios in each
of these series are determined for districts with total deposits
which are increasing or decreasing relative to the district positions—high
 or low—occupied, it is found that (1) the average
rate of decrease is accelerated when total deposits are high and
increasing, and (2) the average rate of increase is accelerated
when total deposits are low and decreasing. These rates of change
for the three series, according to the varied conditions of total
deposits, are summarized in Table 104.
It is of interest to pair the variations of the ratios in. the
series mentioned with those of total deposits when the deviations
are taken from their respective country levels. When this is done,
it is found that the net percentage differences from the country
level, for both gross earnings and total expense, are positive—
that is, the amounts are above this level—irrespective of the direction
 or percentage amounts by which the total deposits, with
which they were paired, deviate from this level. This is the rule