The Term Structure of Real Rates and Expected Inflation

Changes in nominal interest rates must be due to either movements in real interest rates, expected inflation, or the inflation risk premium. We develop a term structure model with regime switches, time‐varying prices of risk, and inflation to identify these components of the nominal yield curve. We find that the unconditional real rate curve in the United States is fairly flat around 1.3%. In one real rate regime, the real term structure is steeply downward sloping. An inflation risk premium that increases with maturity fully accounts for the generally upward sloping nominal term structure.     

Inflation, asset prices, and the term structure of interest rates in monetary economics

This article offers a tractable monetary asset pricing model.In monetary economies, the price level, inflation, asset prices,and the real and nominal interest rates have to be determinedsimultaneously and in relation to each other. This link allowsus to relate in closed form each of the dependent entities tothe underlying real and monetary variables. Among other featuresof such economies, inflation can be partially nonmonetary andthe real and nominal term structures can depend on fundamentallydifferent risk factors. In one extreme, the process followedby the real term structure is independent of that followed byits nominal counterpart.     

Extracting inflation expectations and inflation risk premia from the term structure: A joint model of the UK nominal and real yield curves

This paper analyses the UK interest rate term structure over the period since October 1992, when the United Kingdom adopted an explicit inflation target, using an affine term structure model estimated using both government bond yields and survey data. The model imposes no-arbitrage restrictions across nominal and real yields, which enables interest rates to be decomposed into expected real policy rates, expected inflation, real term premia and inflation risk premia. The model is used to shed light on major developments over the period, including the impact of Bank of England independence and the low real bond yield ‘conundrum’.     

Pricing the term structure of inflation risk premia: Theory and evidence from TIPS

In this paper, we study inflation risk and the term structure of inflation risk premia in the United States' nominal interest rates through the Treasury Inflation Protection Securities (TIPS) with a multi-factor, modified quadratic term structure model with correlated real and inflation rates. We derive closed form solutions to the real and nominal term structures of interest rates that drastically facilitate the estimation of model parameters and improve the accuracy of the valuation of nominal rates and TIPS prices. In addition, we contribute to the literature by estimating the term structure of inflation risk premia implied from the TIPS market. The empirical evidence using data from the period of January 1998 through October 2007 indicates that the expected inflation rate, contrary to data derived from the consumer price indices, is very stable and the inflation risk premia exhibit a positive term structure.     

Economic determinants of the nominal treasury yield curve

Macroeconomic shocks account for most of the variability of nominal Treasury yields, inducing parallel shifts in the level of the yield curve. We develop a new approach to identifying macroeconomic shocks that exploits model-based empirical shock measures. Technology shocks shift yields through their effect on expected inflation and the term premium. Shocks to preferences for current consumption affect yields through their impact on real rates and expected inflation. For both shocks, the systematic reaction of monetary policy is an important transmission pathway. We find little evidence that fiscal policy shocks are an important source of interest rate variability.     

Monetary policy,bond risk premia,and the economy

Within an affine model of the term structure of interest rates, where bond yields get driven by observable and unobservable macroeconomic factors, parameter restrictions help identify the effects of monetary policy and other structural disturbances on output, inflation, and interest rates and decompose movements in long-term rates into terms attributable to changing expected future short rates versus risk premia. When estimated, the model highlights a broad range of channels through which monetary policy affects risk premia and the economy, risk premia affect monetary policy and the economy, and the economy affects monetary policy and risk premia.     

Monetary rules and the nominal rate of interest under uncertainty

The expected real rate of return on a nominal bond is shown to be equal to the real rate of interest plus a premium for systematic purchasing power risk. The particular monetary rule employed by the central monetary authority affects the entire joint distribution of inflation and aggregate real wealth. Thus, the monetary authority is able to influence the relationship between the real and nominal interest rate not only by affecting the expected rate of inflation but also by affecting the systematic purchasing power risk of fixed nominal claims.     

Inflation Risk in Corporate Bonds

We argue that corporate bond yields reflect fears of debt deflation. When debt is nominal, unexpectedly low inflation increases real liabilities and default risk. In a real business cycle model with optimal but infrequent capital structure choice, more uncertain or procyclical inflation leads to quantitatively important increases in corporate log yields in excess of default‐free log yields. A panel of credit spread indexes from six developed countries shows that credit spreads rise by 14 basis points if inflation volatility or the inflation‐stock correlation increases by one standard deviation.     

基于面板模型的中国国债风险溢价实证研究

该研究采用面板模型实证分析了2003年12月至2008年4月上海证券交易所债券市场国债风险溢价与利率期限结构及宏观经济变量的关系。实证结果显示，上期利率期限结构曲线越陡峭，当期国债风险溢价越高；上期通货膨胀水平越高，当期国债风险溢价越高，而再延长一期滞后期，会发现滞后第二期的通货膨胀水平与当期国债风险溢价存在显著负关系；货币供应同比增速增加时，国债风险溢价水平降低。     

Is the ex‐ante equity risk premium always positive? Evidence from a new conditional expectations model

We model the conditional risk premium by combining principal component analysis and a statistical learning technique, known as boosted regression trees. The method is validated through various out‐of‐sample tests. We apply the estimates to test the positivity restriction on the risk premium and find evidence that the risk premium is negative in periods of low corporate and government bond returns, high inflation and downward‐sloping term structure. These periods are linked with changes in business cycles; the states when theories predict the existence of negative risk premium. Based on the evidence, we reject the conditional capital asset pricing model and raise a question over the practice of imposing the positive risk premium constraint in predictive models.     

Nonlinear equilibrium adjustment dynamics and predictability of the term structure of interest rates

We analyze money market dynamics under a long-run equilibrium framework where commonly-monitored spreads serve as error correction terms, derived from a structural model incorporating autocorrelated risk premia, interest rate smoothing and monetary policy feedback. Using a dataset of monthly observations of the spot next and four-, thirteen-, twenty six- and fifty two-week Treasury Bills rates for the United States, Germany and United Kingdom from January 1999 to April 2016, we investigate the power of the expectations hypothesis theory of interest rates taking into account long-run deviations from equilibrium and inherent nonlinearities. We reveal short-run dynamic adjustments for the term structure of the USA, Germany and the UK, which are subject to regime switches. When forecastability is tested during May 2016–October 2017, the MSIH-VECM outperforms systematically the VECM. This is the first attempt to explore the possibility of parameter instability as a crucial factor in deriving the rejection of the restricted version of the cointegration space. Moreover, we investigate the dynamic out-of-sample forecasts of the term structure to assess the effectiveness of nonlinear MS-VECM modeling in capturing the after-effects of the global crisis. Overall, our results suggest that regime shifts in the mean and variance of the term structure may be intertwined with changes in fundamentals, that play a role in driving interest rate regimes, in particular business cycle and inflation fluctuations.     

The high-frequency impact of news on long-term yields and forward rates: Is it real?

Macroeconomic news announcements move yields and forward rates on nominal and index-linked bonds and inflation compensation. This paper estimates the reactions using high-frequency data on nominal and index-linked bond yields, allowing the effects of news announcements on real rates and inflation compensation to be parsed far more precisely than is possible using daily data. Long-term nominal yields and forward rates are very sensitive to macroeconomic news announcements. Inflation compensation is sensitive to announcements about price indices and monetary policy. However, for news announcements about real economic activity, such as nonfarm payrolls, the vast majority of the sensitivity is concentrated in real rates. Accordingly, most of the sizeable impact of news about real economic activity on the nominal term structure of interest rates represents changes in expected future real short-term interest rates and/or real risk premia rather than changes in expected future inflation and/or inflation risk premia. Such sensitivity of real rates to macroeconomics news is hard to rationalize within the framework of existing macroeconomic models.     

Are Indexed Bonds Really Inflation Proof? A Model of Real and Nominal Term Structures when Money has Real Effects

This paper studies the general behavior of the nominal and real term structures of interest rates in a general equilibrium framework. A central bank is introduced in the model as an agent facing a tradeoff between inflation and output and choosing a monetary policy variable. Prices and output are jointly determined in our model endogenously. Two multi-factor nominal and real term structure models are given as examples to illustrate the general model. In our economies, inflation indexed bonds are not completely inflation proof, but are still subject to the influence of inflation uncertainties. The models offer us an empirical framework that can be studied with indexed bond data and nominal bond data together in a single estimation.     

Real Interest Rates and Inflation: An Ex-Ante Empirical Analysis

We develop a method of measuring ex-ante real interest rates using prices of index and nominal bonds. Employing this method and newly available data, we directly test the Fisher hypothesis that the real rate of interest is independent of inflation expectations. We find a negative correlation between ex-ante real interest rates and expected inflation. This contradicts the Fisher hypothesis but is consistent with the theories of Mundell and Tobin, Darby and Feldstein, and Stulz. We also find that nominal interest rates include an inflation risk premium that is positively related to a proxy for inflation uncertainty.     

General equilibrium real and nominal interest rates

We derive the general equilibrium short-term real and nominal interest rates in a monetary economy affected by technological and monetary shocks and where the price level dynamics is endogenous. Assuming fairly general processes for technology and money supply, we show that an inherent feature of our equilibrium is that any real variable dynamics, in particular that of the short-term real interest rate, is driven by both monetary and real factors. This money non-neutrality is generic, as it does not stem from any friction such as price stickiness, or from a particular utility function. Non-neutrality obtains because the ex ante cost of real money holdings is random due to inflation uncertainty. We then analyze in depth a specialized version of this economy in which the state variables follow square root processes, and the representative investor has a log separable utility function. The short-term nominal rate dynamics we obtain encompasses most of the dynamics present in the literature, from Vasicek and CIR to recent quadratic and, more generally, non-linear interest rate models. Moreover, our results pave the way to several new nominal term structures.     

The Cyclical Behavior of Interest Rates

This article investigates the behavior of the term structure of interest rates over the business cycle. In contrast to prior studies that measure the business cycle by the simple growth in aggregate economic activity, we consider the deviation of aggregate economic activity from its potentially stochastic trend. We show that incorporating both an independent trend and cyclical component in consumption improves the efficiency in estimating consumption-based asset pricing models. We also find that the term spread is more informative about future changes in stochastically detrended real gross domestic product (GDP) than future growth rates in real GDP.     

Monetary policy, taxes, and the business cycle

This paper analyzes the interaction of inflation with the tax code and its contribution to aggregate fluctuations. We find significant effects operating through the tax on realized nominal capital gains. A tax on nominal bond income magnifies these effects. Our innovation is to combine monetary policy shocks with non-indexed taxes in a model where the central bank implements policy using an interest rate rule. Monetary policy had important effects on the behavior of the business cycle before 1980 because policymakers did not exert effective control over inflation. Monetary policy reform around 1980 led to better control, and with more stable inflation, the effect of the interaction between monetary policy and the nominal capital gains tax has become negligible.     

Monetary policy signaling and movements in the term structure of interest rates

This paper examines how various monetary policy signals such as repo rate changes, inflation reports, speeches, and minutes from monetary policy meetings affect the term structure of interest rates. We find that unexpected movements in the short end of the yield curve are mainly driven by unexpected changes in the repo rate. However, published inflation reports and speeches also have some impact on short rates. Speeches are found to be a more important determinant for the longer end of the term structure. Our conclusion is that central bank communication is an essential part of the conduct of monetary policy.     

Monetary and financial stability in the euro area: Pro-cyclicality versus trade-off

This paper investigates the nexus between monetary stability and financial stability. We examine, in the experience of EMU between 1994 and 2008, first, the response of the term structure of interest rates, share prices, exchange rates, property price inflation and the deposit–loan ratio of the banking sector (our proxies for financial stability) to changes in the consumer price level and ECB policy rate (our proxies for monetary stability); second, whether and to what extent lower inflation has caused share price stability and how ECB policy rate has reacted to inflation. Using a sign-restriction-based VAR approach, we find that there is a pro-cyclical relationship between monetary and financial stability in the long-run. With a positive inflation shock, we find on average a 2% estimated decline in share prices. This suggests that the interest rate instrument used for inflation targeting is conducive to financial stability.