The Expectations Theory of the Term Structure of Interest Rates in Australia*

The aim of this paper is to test the expectations theory of the term structure of interest rates in the Australian market for short-term financial assets. The paper finds that the joint hypothesis of the expectations theory and zero (or a constant risk premium) cannot be rejected in the period since the introduction of the tender system for sale of government securities in 1979. The floating of the Australian dollar in 1983 did not alter the findings.     

宏观经济变化对利率期限结构的影响机制研究

利率期限结构的变化受到各种宏观经济因素的影响,本文通过建立结构VAR模型,发现宏观经济冲击对不同期限利率水平产生显著影响,但不同冲击产生的影响不同;水平、倾斜和曲度3个因素可以解释90%以上的利率曲线变化,但水平因素的解释能力与成熟市场相比较弱;利用脉冲反应和方差分解,发现实际经济变化主导着利率的倾斜因素和曲度因素的变化,而货币政策是影响利率水平因素变化的主要原因,对其他因素的影响较弱,这一点与发达国家的成熟市场存在较大差别。     

中国利率期限结构的货币政策含义

本文采用Nelson-Siegel参数模型连续估计了中国利率期限结构曲线,实证了远期利率对未来即期利率的预测能力,分析了央行货币政策措施对利率期限结构的影响和实施效果,研究了利率期限结构与未来通货膨胀的关系。研究结果表明,中国利率期限结构能够为研究制定货币政策提供大量有用的信息。     

A Theory of Exchange Rates and the Term Structure of Interest Rates

This paper defines the concepts of indirect and direct risk premium effects and analyzes their properties in an exchange rate model. In the model, these effects are endogenously determined in a rational expectations equilibrium. For the effect of an interest rate shock, they have the opposite signs and the indirect risk premium effect can dominate the direct risk premium effect under reasonable parameters. This means that domestic short‐term bonds and foreign bonds are complements in the model even though domestic long‐term bonds and foreign bonds are substitutes. This model, focusing on the indirect risk premium effect and on the term structure of interest rates, can be combined with a small sample bias approach to explain stylized facts about the forward premium anomaly, which is found for short‐term interest rates, but not for long‐term interest rates.     

利率期限结构理论与模型研究评析

利率期限结构是指除了到期日之外其它条件均相同的情况下收益率与期限之间的关系.国外的学者对其进行了深入的研究.传统的理论研究主要从定性的角度探讨了收益率曲线的形状及其形成原因.而现代的理论研究则通过建立定量的模型来描述利率的随机动态特征,并运用相关的数据对这些模型进行了实证检验.借鉴国外的成熟理论,国内学者也对我国利率期限结构进行了研究,但尚不够深入,因此对其开展更进一步的研究是我们的重要任务.     

我国国债利率期限结构的静态实证分析

选取我国银行间国债某个交易日的数据,比较了三次样条模型、指数样条模型和NSS模型对国债价格的拟合效果,结果发现三次样条模型拟合效果最好;使用三次样条模型构建我国国债收益率曲线,并对其静态特征与形成原因做了分析;静态分析中显示我国国债长短期利差太低,并提出相关的政策建议。     

中国利率期限结构中的宏观经济风险因素分析——基于宏观-金融模型的研究途径

本文应用宏观-金融模型对我国利率期限结构动态过程中的时变宏观经济风险价格进行定量估计,在此基础上,对利率期限结构的预期成分和风险溢价成分进行分解,并且模拟了宏观经济对利率期限结构的冲击效应。研究结果表明,我国利率期限结构中存在着显著的时变宏观经济风险价格;不同期限利率可以明显地分解出预期成分和风险溢价成分,风险溢价成分的变动具有阶段性特点;宏观经济冲击在短期内对利率期限结构的整体水平与坡度均有明显影响,在长期内则仅对整体水平的影响较为明显。因此,我国利率期限结构可以体现出宏观经济形势的变化,应该进一步提高利率期限结构在货币政策制定中的作用。     

The Regime-Dependent Determination of Credibility: A New Look at European Interest Rate Differentials

Abstract. With persistence in macroeconomic variables two aspects of exchange rate credibility emerge whose relative importance varies over time. Both aspects have opposite implications for the relation between fundamentals and credibility. Hence, the effect of policy measures on interest rate differentials becomes ambiguous. In this paper a Markov-switching VAR that allows for parameter shifts across regimes is employed to test the hypothesis of regime-dependent determination of credibility for major EMS currencies. Regime-dependent impulse response functions reveal substantial differences in the response of spreads to macroeconomic shocks across regimes.     

Exchange Rate Dynamics in a Multilateral Target Zone

This paper presents a model of exchange rate behaviour in a multilateral target zone. The model produces new economic insights beyond the well-known bilateral model of Krugman (1991), which is obtained as a special case. The paper also introduces a new class of stochastic processes in economics, namely multidimensional reflected diffusion processes.
Two main features characterize the economics of exchange rates in a multilateral target zone. (i) The restrictions on interventions imposed by cross-currency constraints: when one country changes its money supply, say because its exchange rate with a second country has hit its band, all exchange rates involving the currency of that particular country will be affected, regardless of their position within their respective bands. (ii) Cooperation in sharing the intervention burden: in general, the exchange rate between any two countries will depend on the fundamentals of third countries in a multilateral target zone. This is because if the monetary authorities intervene together, a shock in the fundamentals of any country will induce a revision of the expectation of future interventions of other countries.
The model reverts the counterfactual predictions of the bilateral model that the exchange rate steady-state density should be U-shaped and that its volatility should be a decreasing function of the distance of the exchange rate to the limits of its band. Thus, accounting for the multilateral feature of real-world target zones allows us to reconcile target zone models with the most salient empirical features of exchange rate behaviour.     

利率期限结构的马尔科夫区制转移模型与实证分析

本文在利率期限结构中通过纳入马尔科夫(Markov)区制转移,将传统CKLS模型推广到更为一般的状态相依的CKLS模型,并将之应用于对我国1996年1月至2006年3月银行间同业拆借市场六组不同到期日之月度加权平均利率的研究。通过模型估计和检验分析,我们发现在不同区制下不同到期日利率漂移函数和扩散函数均呈现非线性,其中漂移函数表现为强烈的随机游走过程或均值回归过程,而扩散函数表现为低波动状态或高波动状态。此外,结果表明不同到期日利率期限结构可由缩压的马尔科夫区制转移CKLS模型获得。     

债券投资利率风险管理研究

我国的债券市场开始于20世纪80年代,随着债券品种的逐渐完善以及利率市场化改革的进一步深入,债券投资的利率风险已成为投资者所面临的最主要的市场风险。因此,当前对债券市场中的利率风险进行衡量与规避便具有了重要的理论意义和实践价值。具体分析了债券投资中利率风险规避的基本工具——久期与凸性,并对久期与凸性的特性与运用进行分析,帮助投资者对这两种工具有一个感性的认识。     

Threshold Dynamics of Short-term Interest Rates: Empirical Evidence and Implications for the Term Structure

This paper studies a nonlinear one-factor term structure model in discrete time. The short-term interest rate follows a self-exciting threshold autoregressive (SETAR) process that allows for shifts in the intercept and the variance. In comparison with a linear model, we find empirical evidence in favour of the threshold model for Germany and the US. Based on the estimated short-rate dynamics we derive the implied arbitrage-free term structure of interest rates. Since analytical solutions are not feasible, bond prices are computed by means of Monte Carlo integration. The resulting term structure captures stylized facts of the data. In particular, it implies a nonlinear relation between long rates and the short rate.     

中国离岸市场利率期限结构特征研究——基于面板宏观金融模型的分析

文章以在岸经济与市场为基础和参考,基于面板宏观金融模型,分别对离岸市场上属于短期的香港同业拆借利率(HIBOR)和属于中长期的离岸人民币(CNH)债券市场的期限结构进行了分析.研究发现,两个离岸利率市场具有以下的新特征:首先,离岸与在岸利率市场存在不同的运作规律,离岸利率市场甚至对部分在岸宏观经济变量的未来趋势有更好的判读,从而可用于决策参考;其次,离岸市场中投资者更愿意承担风险去持有人民币资产,这不仅是基于对人民币升值趋势的判断,也是人民币国际化的良好市场信号;最后,中长期的CNH债券市场与短期的HIBOR人民币市场之间的差异表明,人民币虽然在国际经贸往来中相对活跃,但离岸资本市场仍有待加速建设发展.上述结果有利于理解市场化利率的运作机制,也为中国离岸与在岸利率市场的发展完善以及利率市场化提供了参考信息.     

Endogenous Exchange Rate Volatility, Trading Volume and Interest Rate Differentials in a Model of Portfolio Selection

This paper considers a portfolio model of exchange rate determination and focuses on endogenous sources of exchange rate volatility. It is shown that, in addition to volatility transmitted by conditionally heteroskedastic interest rates, the larger the serial correlation in interest rates the stronger the effect of interest rate differentials on exchange rate volatility. These features are supported by the data. The paper also looks at the volume–volatility relationship implied by the model.     

Yield Curve Inversion and the Incidence of Recession: A Dynamic IS-LM Model with Term Structure of Interest Rates

This paper attempts to explain why yield curve inversion may serve as a leading indicator of recessions. It employs an IS-LM model with the term structure of interest rates and provides a formal phase-diagram analysis of dynamic adjustment process. It demonstrates that the occurrence of yield curve inversion is an off-equilibrium phenomenon after an adverse shock in the adjustment process of interest rates and output, and that an inverted yield curve may lead, but does not lead to, a recession.     

The Australian Term Structure as a Predictor of Real Economic Activity

This study examines the empirical relation between the yield spread of the term structure of interest rates and future economic activity in Australia. Results indicate that the term spread has significant power to predict real GDP growth but not nominal GDP growth. The term spread has more power in forecasting cumulative future growth than marginal growth in periods ahead. Around one-third of the variance of two year GDP growth can be explained by the term structure one to two quarters ahead. Explanatory power begins to decline beyond two to three years into the future whatever the combination of the long and short term yields used to measure the spread. The term spread has more explanatory power than the most widely used leading index for forecasting economic activity when forecasting cumulative GDP growth beyond two quarters.     

The Optimal Degree of Exchange Rate Flexibility: a Target Zone Approach*

This paper presents a benchmark model that rationalizes the choice of the degree of exchange rate flexibility. We show that the monetary authority may gain efficiency by reducing volatility of both the exchange rate and the interest rate at the same time. Furthermore, the model is consistent with some known stylized facts in the empirical literature on target zones that previous models were not able to generate jointly—namely, the positive relation between the exchange rate and the interest rate differential, the degree of nonlinearity of the function linking the exchange rate to fundamentals, and the shape of the exchange rate stochastic distribution.