Journal Article
Why intervention rarely works
Humpage, Owen F.; Osterberg, William P. (2000-02)
Foreign-exchange-market intervention is generally ineffective when undertaken independent of monetary policy. But when undertaken as a goal of monetary policy, exchange-rate management can compromise price stability. This Economic Commentary explains the difficulties of implementing an intervention policy.
Economic Commentary , Issue Feb

Journal Article
Does intervention explain the forward discount puzzle?
Osterberg, William P. (1997-10)
An investigation of the impact of U.S. and German central-bank interventions on the forward discount puzzle for two exchange rates-the German mark/U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen/U.S. dollar-using official 1985-91 data. The evidence on the importance of intervention is strongest for the DM/$. However, the direction of the impact is inconsistent with the findings of Flood and Rose (1996) if periods of intervention are viewed as equivalent to fixed-rate regimes.
Economic Review , Issue Q IV , Pages 24-31

Journal Article
Can foreign exchange intervention signal monetary policy changes?
Osterberg, William P. (1995-05)
An examination of the ability of foreign exchange intervention to signal upcoming changes in monetary policy, showing that for such a signaling mechanism to make sense, the link between intervention and monetary policy should be clear, the implied policy should be credible, and information about intervention should be communicated accurately to market participants.
Economic Commentary , Issue May

Working Paper
Intervention as information: a survey
Humpage, Owen F.; Osterberg, William P.; Baillie, Richard T. (1999)
Research has generally failed to find reliable connections between official exchange-market interventions and exchange rates that are consistent with either a monetary or a portfolio-balance theory of exchange-rate determination. Recently economists have suggested that intervention might sometimes influence exchange rates through its effects on agents? expectations. This survey discusses newer research that analyzes informational aspects of intervention.
Working Papers (Old Series) , Paper 9918

Journal Article
Network externalities: the catch-22 of retail payments innovations
Osterberg, William P.; Thomson, James B. (1998-02)
An investigation of one of the reasons why electronic payments have not yet supplanted cash and checks in retail transactions: Consumers willingness to use an innovation depends on the number of merchants who have already adopted it, and merchants willingness to invest in the innovation depends on the number of consumers who are already using it.
Economic Commentary , Issue Feb

Working Paper
Central bank intervention and overnight uncovered interest rate parity
Osterberg, William P.; Baillie, Richard T. (1998)
This paper considers the impact of U.S. and German central bank intervention on the risk premium in forward foreign exchange markets.
Working Papers (Old Series) , Paper 9823

Journal Article
The Exchange Stabilization Fund: how it works
Osterberg, William P.; Thomson, James B. (1999-12)
The increasingly controversial Exchange Stabilization Fund is used to influence the international value of the U.S. dollar and to provide aid to foreign countries. The debate surrounding the Fund will become more informed, the authors suggest, when observers understand how to calculate the total amount of resources available to the Fund. This Economic Commentary explains how the Fund's balance sheet figures must be adjusted to produce an accurate account of those resources.
Economic Commentary , Issue Dec

Journal Article
The Japanese edge in investment: the financial side
Osterberg, William P. (1987-03)
An argument that the Japanese investment advantage over the United States results largely from lower pre-tax required rates of return and lower agency costs of debt in Japan, rather than from a less-burdensome tax code.
Economic Commentary , Issue Mar

Journal Article
Bank capital requirements and the riskiness of banks: a review
Osterberg, William P.; Thomson, James B. (1989-01)
A study of the impact of capital requirements on bank portfolio decisions, showing that the variance of earnings and the incentive to increase leverage are reduced with risk- and leverage-related deposit rates, and that the impact of increased capital requirements on portfolio behavior is generally ambiguous.
Economic Review , Volume 25 , Issue Q I , Pages 10-17

Journal Article
How important are U.S. capital flows into Mexico?
Osterberg, William P. (1994-12)
An analysis of the often-understated role of capital flows from the United States to Mexico following passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in late 1993, examining their implications for the Mexican economy.
Economic Commentary , Issue Dec