Journal Article
Will taxing imports help?
Humpage, Owen F.; Bryan, Michael F. (1985-03)
An examination of the possible impact on U.S. consumers and producers of placing an across-the-board tariff surcharge on imported goods.
Economic Commentary , Issue Mar

Journal Article
Should the United States hold foreign currency reserves?
Anderson, Gerald H.; Humpage, Owen F. (1992-08)
An argument that for countries with well-developed money markets and flexible exchange rates, there is little to be gained from holding a vast foreign exchange portfolio and intervening in the world's currency markets.
Economic Commentary , Issue Aug

Journal Article
Dollarization and monetary sovereignty: the case of Argentina
Humpage, Owen F.; Altig, David E. (1999-09)
In January, President Menim of Argentina proposed strengthening his country's commitment to monetary stability by replacing the peso with the U.S. dollar. Dollarization leaves Argentina without a lender of last resort, but the Federal Reserve's current operating procedure combines with existing Argentine arrangements to mitigate this drawback.
Economic Commentary , Issue Sep

Journal Article
The Fed’s Yield-Curve-Control Policy
Humpage, Owen F. (2016-11)
The recent global financial crisis left governments in many advanced countries with very heavy debt burdens and their central banks with huge portfolios of government bonds. With many central banks today still facing policy rates that are uncomfortably close to zero, some may follow the example of Japan, which recently added a new long-term interest rate target to its short-term target to give itself ?yield-curve control.? The Federal Reserve?s foray into similar territory around the Second World War suggests that combining yield-curve control with quantitative easing when government ...
Economic Commentary , Issue November

Journal Article
Are successful interventions random events?
Humpage, Owen F. (1996-03)
An examination of the Federal Reserve's intervention successes in the late 1980s, showing that, although the characteristic day-to-day fluctuations in exchange rates virtually ensured that a large share of these interventions would appear successful--purely by chance and even in the absence of a causal link--the number of successes proved larger than pure randomness would suggest.
Economic Commentary , Issue Mar

Journal Article
Replacing the dollar with special drawing rights--will it work this time?
Humpage, Owen F. (2009-03)
The head of China?s central bank is calling for countries to replace the U.S. dollar as an international reserve currency with something called SDRs. Created by the IMF way back in 1969 for that purpose, SDRs never caught on. While SDRs may be declared an official international reserve asset today, they are not likely to become the world?s key international currency anytime soon. In the meantime, countries in China?s current predicament--acquiring more dollars than they think prudent--could avoid such risks in the future by allowing their currencies to appreciate.
Economic Commentary , Issue Mar

Journal Article
A Mexican currency board?
Humpage, Owen F. (1995-03)
A look at the pros and cons of replacing Mexico's central bank with a currency board, explaining that although a currency board would eliminate monetary policy discretion and help to restore faith in the peso's purchasing power, it would also prevent exchange-rate changes from aiding economic adjustments.
Economic Commentary , Issue Mar

Journal Article
Target zones for exchange rates?
Humpage, Owen F.; Karamouzis, Nicholas V. (1986-08)
An examination of proposals to improve the international monetary system by creating central exchange rates and a discussion of why such a policy might not be in the best interest of the United States.
Economic Commentary , Issue Aug

Journal Article
Warehousing: A Historical Lesson in Central Bank Independence
Humpage, Owen F. (2017-08)
This Economic Commentary explains how warehousing?a seemingly innocuous institutional arrangement between the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury?came to threaten the Fed?s independence. Warehousing began as an arcane procedure designed to help the Treasury cover a specific type of foreign-exchange exposure. It then grew into a supplemental source of funding for the Treasury's foreign-exchange interventions. Eventually the procedure morphed into a sizeable off-budget source of funding for other Treasury activities and seemed an inappropriate subversion of the congressional appropriations ...
Economic Commentary , Issue August

Journal Article
Exchange-market intervention and U.S. monetary policy
Humpage, Owen F. (1991-10)
An essay contending that a central bank interested in maintaining price stability gains little from exchange-market intervention, particularly when it acts jointly with fiscal authorities.
Economic Commentary , Issue Oct