Inflation and real short-term interest rates - A Kalman filter analysis of the term structure

This paper applies the Kalman filter technique to look at the relationship among real interest rates, inflation, and the term structure of interest rate under the expectations hypothesis. Using quarterly data from 1960:1 to 1991:1 for inflation, three month nominal short term interest rates and long term yields with maturities from one to five years, this paper finds that the expectations hypothesis of the term structure holds up well for the data under the assumptions of a time-varying premium and a random-walk real interest rate. In other words, a reconciliation of the expectations hypothesis with the data is attained by assuming time-varying term premium and non-stationary real interest rate.     

The expectations theory of the term structure: Evidence from inflation forecasts

This paper tests the joint hypothesis of rational expectations and the expectations theory of the term structure using the Livingston survey data on price inflation forecasts. For a variety of sample periods, the paper presents evidence that the data are consistent with the theory. Since inflation forecasts, unlike interest rates, are not linked to specific underlying financial assets, the relationship between longterm and short-term inflation forecasts should not embody risk premia. This paper's findings therefore lend support to the view that a time-varying risk premium is needed to explain the observed term structure of interest rates.     

The Global Financial Crisis and Stochastic Convergence in the Euro Area

This paper analyzes the issue of convergence in the original Euro Area countries, and assesses the effect of the global financial crisis on the process of convergence. In particular, we consider whether the global financial crisis pulled the 12 economies of the Euro Area together or pushed them apart. We investigate the dynamics of stochastic convergence of the original Euro Area countries for inflation rates, nominal interest rates, and real interest rates. We test for convergence relative to Germany, taken as the benchmark for core EU standards, using monthly data over the period January 2001 to September 2010. We examine, in a time-series framework, three different profiles of the convergence process: linear convergence, nonlinear convergence, and linear segmented convergence. Our findings both contradict and support convergence. Stochastic convergence implies the rejection of a unit root in the inflation rate, nominal interest rate, and real interest rate differentials. We find that the differentials are consistent with a unit-root hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is a stationary process with a linear trend. We frequently, but not always, reject the unit-root hypothesis when the alternative is a stationary process with a broken trend. We also note that the current financial crisis plays a significant role in dating the breaks.     

A note on the rationality of survey inflation expectations in the United Kingdom

When actual and expected inflation rates are integrated process, the rational expectations assumption involves a particular cointegrating relationship between them. This makes it possible to test the rationality hypothesis using error-correction formulations. By using these cointegration- and error-correction techniques, unbiasedness and weak-form efficiency cannot be rejected on survey inflation expectations from British Manufacturing Industries.     

Nonstationary term premia and cointegration of the term structure

This paper proposes a model of the term structure with nonstationary term premia which exhibit a factor structure. This explains the common empirical finding of a cointegrating rank smaller than the one predicted by the rational expectations hypothesis of the term structure. An application to German interest rate data yields easily interpretable results.     

A dynamic Nelson-Siegel yield curve model with Markov switching

This paper proposes a model to better capture persistent regime changes in the interest rates of the US term structure. While the previous literature on this matter proposes that regime changes in the term structure are due to persistent changes in the conditional mean and volatility of interest rates we find that changes in a single parameter that determines the factor loadings of the model better captures regime changes. We show that this model gives superior in-sample forecasting performance as compared to a baseline model and a volatility-switching model. In general, we find compelling evidence that the extracted factors from our term structure models are closely related with various economic variables. Furthermore, we investigate and find evidence that the effects of macroeconomic phenomena such as monetary policy, inflation expectations, and real economic activity differ according to the particular regime realized for the term structure. In particular, we identify the periods where monetary policy appears to have a greater effect on the yield curve, and the periods where inflation expectations seem to have a greater effect in yield determination. We also find convincing evidence of a relationship between the regimes estimated by the various switching models with economic activity and monetary policy.     

The Liquidity Premium in the Money Market: A Comparison of the German Mark Period and the Euro Area

Abstract. This paper investigates to what extent the expectations hypothesis of the term structure (EHTS) of interest rates receives some support since the launch of the European single currency. Empirical evidence shows that in general this theory applies to most European countries, and to Germany in particular. The objective of this paper thus is twofold. First, the EHTS for the German money market and for a larger sample including the German mark period and the euro money market is tested in order to check whether the results for the former are affected by the new financial environment since January 1999. Second, the implications of the results for the monetary policy assessment are discussed. We estimate cointegrating vector autoregressive models in order to quantify the level of the liquidity premium. The results suggest that financial markets do not consider the monetary policy of the European Central Bank simply as the one prevailing during the German period.     

Correct cointegration tests of the long-run relationship between nominal interest and inflation

The Fisher (1930) hypothesis suggests that a long-run equilibrium relationship exists between the non-stationary series: nominal interest and expected inflation. Testing such a cointegrating relationship is complicated by the presence of the unobserved ex antereal rate of interest in residuals from the cointegrating regression. Assumptions concerning the stochastic properties of the expected real rate of interest are examined, and two proxies for the ex antereal rate are employed in multivariate cointegration tests of the Fisher hypothesis.     

Term structure and forward guidance as instruments of monetary policy

This paper studies a simple monetary model with a Ricardian fiscal policy in which equilibria are indeterminate if monetary policy consists solely of a rule for fixing the short-term interest rate. We introduce explicitly into the model the agents’ expectations of inflation which create the indeterminacy and show that there are two types of policies—a term structure rule or a forward guidance rule for the short rate—which lead to determinacy. The first consists in fixing the interest rates on a family of bonds of different maturities as function of realized inflation; the second consists in fixing the short-term interest rate and the expected values of the short-term interest rate for a sequence of periods into the future as a function of realized inflation. If the monetary authority chooses an inflation process that satisfies conditions derived in the paper and applies one of these rules, it anchors agents’ expectations to this process, in the sense that it is the unique inflation process compatible with equilibrium when the interest rates or expected future values of the short rate are those specified by the term structure or forward guidance rule.     

Convergence in Interest Rates and Inflation Rates Across Countries and Over Time

We examine the relationship between interest rates and inflation rates for 10 countries during the period 1974–95. We find evidence of a unique cointegrating relationship between nominal interest rates of European Monetary System (EMS) countries, the US and Canada, and the US, Germany, and Japan. No similar relationship is obtained between inflation rates with one exception, namely, that between the US and Canada. We interpret these results as convergence in inflation but not in interst rates. Hence, if interest rates represent an indicator of monetary policy, the countries considered have attempted to implement independent policies but not to an extent which produced divergent trends in inflation.     

A test of the expectations hypothesis of the term structure of interest rates for Sri Lanka

This paper tests the expectations hypothesis of the term structure of interest rates for Sri Lanka. The data support the hypothesis that forward and spot rates are cointegrated suggesting a stochastic trend in the structure of interest rates. However, the hypothesis that forward rates are unbiased predictors of future spot rates is rejected.     

Future inflation and the information in international term structures

This paper extends previous work on the information content of the term structure of interest rates using a newly constructed dataset for the United States, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands (1982–1991). Results significantly differ from Jorion and Mishkin (1991). Apparently, the relation between the term structure of interest rates and future inflation is highly period- and country-dependent. We provide new evidence that these results may be due to the inability of financial markets to accurately predict a term structure of inflation in combination with the conduct of monetary policy. This probably accounts for large variation in ex post real interest rate levels and the term structure of real interest rates. Consequently, it is unlikely that the term structure of nominal interest rates will serve as a good indicator of future inflationary developments.     

Separating short-term and long-term inflation expectations using observations from financial markets

The analysis of inflation expectations is extended by distinguishing between short-term and long-term expectations using data from financial markets. The term structure of inflation expectation is explicitly considered. The adaptive expectations hypothesis obtains strong support from the data, while the Frenkel hypothesis can clearly be rejected. This result is clearly at variance with those obtained in Lahiri (1981).     

Term Spreads,Forward Rates and Yield Curve Forecasts

The expectations hypothesis contends that long rates should equal expected forthcoming average short rates. The spread between long and short rates should therefore forecast changes in short rates. In addition, forward rates should anticipate future spot rates. We present econometric evidence for the Euro area in the period from September 2004 to August 2018. In our sample, term spreads are negatively correlated to subsequent interest rate changes. The difference between forward and spot rates is conversely positively correlated to ensuing spot rate changes. Further regression analysis shows, that nominal interest rates do not have predictive properties for future inflation. A vector autoregression analysis whilst revealing medium term overconfidence of Euro area investors, suggests that the propositions of the expectations hypothesis should hold over relatively long periods of time.     

Expectations hypothesis in the context of debt crisis: Evidence from five major EU countries

The present paper examines the empirical adequacy of the expectations hypothesis of the term structure of interest rates in the context of the current debt crisis. Using a sample consisted of the five largest EU countries, namely France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, and accounting for structural breaks in the data, I investigate cointegration, spread stationarity, validity of the cross-equation restrictions implied by the theory, and the possibility of excess returns. Overall, the empirical findings are against the EHTS for the whole maturity spectrum, implying evidence of economically important deviations from the theory. Only for specific spreads of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom there is some evidence in favour of the expectations hypothesis.     

Structural breaks, cointegration, and speed of adjustment Evidence from 12 LDCs money demand

This article estimates a theoretically coherent and empirically robust money demand function for 12 developing countries. The modeling procedure not only tests for a regime shift in the cointegrating equation, but also in the error correction model. Five specific hypotheses are examined. The article demonstrates that a long-run equilibrium relationship exists between real M1 or M2 balances, real income, inflation, exchange rate, foreign exchange risk, and foreign interest rates in the countries studied. The study provides information on the speed of adjustment to equilibrium and the median and mean time lags for adjustment of real money balances to changes in each determinant. Although our results provide more evidence against M1 than M2, this study clearly establishes that both M1 and M2 must be considered as viable policy tools for less developed countries.     

A Cointegrating approach to budget deficits and long-term interest rates

A cointegrating approach is undertaken in this study to determine if there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between budget deficits and long-term interest rates for the United States and nine European countries. The cointegration approach consists of conducting cointegration tests and then testing several hypothesized values for the deficit and price expectations variables. The cointegration results suggest the existence of several significant cointegrating vectors for each of the ten countries, which would seem to appeal to the view of budget deficits having a positive impact on long-term interest rates. The hypothesized values for the deficit and price expectations variables are found to be too strict since the hypotheses are rejected in every case but one.     

On real interest rate persistence: the role of breaks

The role of structural breaks in long spans of ex-post real interest rates for 10 industrialized countries is studied. First, the persistence of the real interest is assessed with newly proposed low-frequency tests of Müller and Watson (2008). Second, the test of Leybourne et al. (2007) for a change in persistence of a time series is applied to the real interest rate. The results show that real interest rates over the full sample period do not fit a covariance-stationary or unit-root model, nor a fractionally integrated, near-unit-root or local-level model. Instead, the persistence of real rates changes over time and there are periods when the real rate is covariance-stationary and other periods when it follows a unit-root process.     

The Bundesbank's Inflation Policy and Asymmetric Behavior of the German Term Structure

The paper analyzes the influence of the Bundesbank's inflation targeting policy on the behavior of the spread between long‐term and short‐term German interest rates. The term spread is considered to be a key indicator of future inflation and economic activity. The application of a momentum threshold autoregressive cointegration model enables the authors to study the adjustment process of the spread toward equilibrium in greater detail than heretofore possible, and permits relaxation of the linear and symmetric adjustment assumption underlying conventional cointegration and error correction investigations on the expectations hypothesis. The empirical findings are consistent with the hypothesized asymmetric adjustment behavior of the spread and can be explained by the Bundesbank's inflation targeting policy during the period from 1975 to 1998.