Journal Article
Stock-market gyrations and investment
Osterberg, William P. (1987-12)
An analysis of the relationship between stock-market gyrations and business fixed investment, using the q theory (the ratio of the market value of financial liabilities to the replacement value of physical assets).
Economic Commentary , Issue Dec , Pages 1-4

Working Paper
Deposit insurance and the cost of capital
Osterberg, William P.; Thomson, James B. (1987)
The impacts of deposit insurance and forbearance on the costs and value of uninsured deposits and equity capital are shown under three regimes.
Working Papers (Old Series) , Paper 8714

Journal Article
Forbearance, subordinated debt, and the cost of capital for insured depository institutions
Osterberg, William P.; Thomson, James B. (1992-07)
Using an explicit model for subordinated debt that considers the possibility of FDIC forbearances, the authors show that forbearance 1) alters the required rate of return on subordinated debt while increasing its market value and 2) weakens the effectiveness of such debt as a source of market discipline.
Economic Review , Volume 28 , Issue Q III , Pages 16-26

Journal Article
The truth about hedge funds
Osterberg, William P.; Thomson, James B. (1999-05)
Do hedge funds help or hurt the financial markets in which they operate? The highly publicized troubles of Long Term Capital Management have once again focused the attention of policymakers and the press on the hedge fund industry and the cry for its regulation. This Economic Commentary refutes some of the commonly held myths about hedge funds and examines the rationale for regulating them.
Economic Commentary , Issue May

Journal Article
The hidden costs of Mexican banking reform
Osterberg, William P. (1997-01)
An examination of the banking reform efforts under way in Mexico, emphasizing how incentive effects can drive up the cost of these efforts and ultimately boost the cost of resolving the nation's debt problem.
Economic Commentary , Issue Jan

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

Working Paper
Optimal financial structure and bank capital requirements: an empirical investigation
Osterberg, William P.; Thomson, James B. (1990)
This paper presents an empirical analysis of the determinants of the leverage ratios (the book value of liabilities divided by the total of the book value of liabilities' and the market value of equity) for 232 bank holding companies for December 1986, June 1987, and December 1987. Many theoretical models of bank behavior assume that bank capital requirements will be binding, and empirical research has generally shown that almost all- banks will meet capital guidelines. However, if the optimal leverage ratios differ among banks, then banks' responses to changes in capital requirements or to ...
Working Papers (Old Series) , Paper 9007

Conference Paper
Capital requirements and optimal bank portfolios: a reexamination
Osterberg, William P.; Thomson, James B. (1988)
Proceedings , Paper 194

Working Paper
The determinants of commercial bank holdings of municipal securities: 1985-1988
Osterberg, William P. (1990)
This paper presents an empirical analysis of commercial bank holdings of municipal securities (munis) from June 1985 through December 1988, using the FFIEC's Reports of Condition and income. While motivated by previous analyses suggesting that a shift from munis to taxable securities is a primary determinant of the overall impact of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 on bank profitability, this paper does not directly analyze the impact of that legislation. However, the paper modifies the specification of muni demand employed in previous analyses to consider roles for state pledging requirements, ...
Working Papers (Old Series) , Paper 9001

Journal Article
Public subsidies for private purposes
Osterberg, William P. (1991-04)
A discussion of the use of municipal debt issues to fund publicly supported stadiums, focusing on the role of federal tax exemption as a hidden subsidy in reducing local funding costs and on the rationale for seeking public subsidies of private, local facilities.
Economic Commentary , Issue Apr