Dividend Dynamics and the Term Structure of Dividend Strips

Many leading asset pricing models are specified so that the term structure of dividend volatility is either flat or upward sloping. These models predict that the term structures of expected returns and volatilities on dividend strips (i.e., claims to dividends paid over a prespecified interval) are also upward sloping. However, the empirical evidence suggests otherwise. This discrepancy can be reconciled if these models replace their proposed dividend dynamics with processes that generate stationary leverage ratios. Under such policies, shareholders are forced to divest (invest) when leverage is low (high), which shifts risk from long‐ to short‐horizon dividend strips.     

债务期限结构理论综述

企业的债务期限结构与企业价值是密切相关的。为此,一些经济学家对企业的债务期限结构进行了研究。这些研究成果大体上可以分为基于契约成本的理论、基于信息不对称的理论、基于税收的理论和基于期限匹配的理论。     

利率期限结构理论研究综述

本文主要对利率期限结构的理论研究做综述,以20世纪70年代初和90年代末为分界线,70年代以前称为传统的利率期限结构,主要以描述性研究为主;70年代以后称为现代利率期限结构,主要以随机模型研究为主;从20世纪90年代末,开始了两极分化发展。本文分为三个部分：第一部分对20世纪70年代之前传统利率期限结构的描述性理论作了概括;第二部分是现代利率期限结构的定量模型,包括均衡模型和无套利模型;第三部分则主要介绍20世纪90年代末以来的一些最新研究进展,包括市场模型和宏观金融模型等。     

基于Shibor的利率期限结构预期理论研究

利用Shibor数据进行利率期限结构预期理论的假设检验,结果发现,1M以下和3M以上期限的利率能分别较好地验证预期理论,而如(3M,1W)或(6M,1M)的长短期利率组合却难以验证预期假设;并且现实中期限较短利率的波动程度要远大于期限较长的拆借品种,基于此,我国需要进一步规范和培育Shibor以作为基准利率和货币政策的操作目标。     

A Nonparametric Model of Term Structure Dynamics and the Market Price of Interest Rate Risk

This article presents a technique for nonparametrically estimating continuous-time diffusion processes that are observed at discrete intervals. We illustrate the methodology by using daily three and six month Treasury Bill data, from January 1965 to July 1995, to estimate the drift and diffusion of the short rate, and the market price of interest rate risk. While the estimated diffusion is similar to that estimated by Chan, Karolyi, Longstaff, and Sanders (1992) , there is evidence of substantial nonlinearity in the drift. This is close to zero for low and medium interest rates, but mean reversion increases sharply at higher interest rates.     

债务到期结构的影响因素：理论和证据

从个别简单分析和逐步回归法分析结果可知,市场价值/账面价值、公司规模、固定资产比例和加权平均资产期限显著地影响中国上市公司债务到期结构.     

Tax Effects in Term Structure Estimation

This study is a refinement and an extension of an earlier study by McCulloch of tax effects in the regression equation for term structure estimation. This study includes tests for tax effects and heteroskedasticity, a reconsideration of the need for an instrumental variable, and a search for the capital gains tax rate in addition to the ordinary-income tax rate. There are two major findings: (1) statistically significant tax-induced bias in the non-tax-adjusted equation and (2) evidence that the capital gains tax is misspecified in the tax-adjusted equation.     

Time Varying Term Premia and Traditional Hypotheses about the Term Structure

Empirical evidence of time varying term premia in bond returns is frequently interpreted as evidence against the Expectations Hypothesis. This paper shows that the Expectations Hypothesis can actually imply time varying term premia if the time frame for which the Expectations Hypothesis holds differs from the return measurement period. Furthermore, many of the properties of these term premia are consistent with those of observed term premia. These results are important because they imply that the case against the Expectations Hypothesis is weaker than claimed in the empirical literature.     

Switching VARMA Term Structure Models

The purpose of this article is to propose a global discrete-timemodeling of the term structure of interest rates which is ableto capture simultaneously the following important features:(i) a historical dynamics of the factor driving term structureshapes involving several lagged values, and switching regimes;(ii) a specification of the stochastic discount factor (SDF)with time-varying and regime-dependent risk-premia; (iii) explicitor quasi explicit formulas for zero-coupon bond (ZCB) and interestrate derivative prices. We develop the switching autoregressivenormal (SARN) and the switching vector autoregressive normal(SVARN) Factor-Based Term Structure Models of order p. The factoris considered as a latent variable or an observable variable:in the second case the factor is a vector of several yields.Regime shifts are described by a Markov chain with (historical)nonhomogeneous transition probabilities. An empirical analysisof bivariate VAR(p) and SVARN(p) Factor-Based Term StructureModels, using monthly observations of the U.S. term structureof interest rates, and a goodness-of-fit and expectation hypothesispuzzle comparison with competing models in the literature, showsthe determinant role played by the observable nature of thefactor, lags, and switching regimes in the term structure modeling.     

Alternative Defaultable Term Structure Models

The objective of this paper is to consider defaultable term structure models in a general setting beyond standard risk-neutral models. Using as numeraire the growth optimal portfolio, defaultable interest rate derivatives are priced under the real-world probability measure. Therefore, the existence of an equivalent risk-neutral probability measure is not required. In particular, the real-world dynamics of the instantaneous defaultable forward rates under a jump-diffusion extension of a HJM type framework are derived. Thus, by establishing a modelling framework fully under the real-world probability measure, the challenge of reconciling real-world and risk-neutral probabilities of default is deliberately avoided, which provides significant extra modelling freedom. In addition, for certain volatility specifications, finite dimensional Markovian defaultable term structure models are derived. The paper also demonstrates an alternative defaultable term structure model. It provides tractable expressions for the prices of defaultable derivatives under the assumption of independence between the discounted growth optimal portfolio and the default-adjusted short rate. These expressions are then used in a more general model as control variates for Monte Carlo simulations of credit derivatives. Nicola Bruti-Liberati: In memory of our beloved friend and colleague.     

New Keynesian Macroeconomics and the Term Structure

This article complements the structural New Keynesian macro framework with a no-arbitrage affine term structure model. Whereas our methodology is general, we focus on an extended macro model with unobservable processes for the inflation target and the natural rate of output that are filtered from macro and term structure data. We find that term structure information helps generate large and significant parameters governing the monetary policy transmission mechanism. Our model also delivers strong contemporaneous responses of the entire term structure to various macroeconomic shocks. The inflation target shock dominates the variation in the "level factor" whereas monetary policy shocks dominate the variation in the "slope and curvature factors."     

Beyond Single-Factor Affine Term Structure Models

This article proposes a new approach to testing for the hypothesisof a single priced risk factor driving the term structure ofinterest rates. The method does not rely on any parametric specificationof the state variable dynamics or the market price of risk.It simply exploits the constraint imposed by the no-arbitragecondition on instantaneous expected bond returns. In order toachieve our goal, we develop a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and applyit to data on Treasury bills and bonds for both the United Statesand Spain. We find that the single risk factor hypothesis cannotbe rejected for either dataset.     

A Semiparametric Two-Factor Term Structure Model

This article proposes a semiparametric two-factor term structuremodel based on a consol rate and the spread between a shortrate and the consol rate. The diffusion functions in both theconsol rate and spread processes are nonparametrically specifiedso that the model allows for maximal flexibility of diffusionfunctions in fitting into data. The drift function of the spreadprocess is specified as a mean-reverting function, while thedrift function of the consol rate process is left unrestricted.A nonparametric procedure is developed for estimating the diffusionfunctions. The asymptotic biases of the nonparametric estimatorsare quantified when the step of discretization is fixed, whilethe asymptotic distributions of the nonparametric estimatorsare derived when the step of discretization tends to zero. Thepricing and hedging performances of the model are evaluatedin a simulated economic environment. Results show that the modelperforms quite well in the simulated economy.     

The Term Structure with Semi-credible Targeting

The Federal Reserve sets targets for interest rates which it enforces through direct market intervention. These targets are changed periodically. In this paper, we develop a term structure model in which the short rate is subject to a control which keeps it close to a target which changes from time to time. The probability of target changes is not constant in the model, but changes as a function of observables. The model performs well at explaining the shifts in the yield curve that accompany target changes.     

Macroeconomic Sources of Risk in the Term Structure

We develop a new way of modeling time variation in term premia, based on the stochastic discount factor model of asset pricing. The joint distribution of excess U.S. bond returns of different maturity and the observable fundamental macroeconomic factors is modeled using multivariate GARCH with conditional covariances in the mean to capture the term premia. By testing the assumption of no arbitrage we derive a specification test of our model. We estimate the contribution made to the term premia at different maturities through real and nominal sources of risk. From the estimated term premia we recover the term structure of interest rates and examine how it varies through time. Finally, we examine whether the reported failures of the rational expectations hypothesis can be attributed to an omitted time-varying term premium.     

Design and Estimation of Quadratic Term Structure Models

We consider the design and estimation of quadratic term structuremodels. We start with a list of stylized facts on interest ratesand interest rate derivatives, classified into three layers: (1)general statistical properties, (2) forecasting relations, and (3)conditional dynamics. We then investigate the implications of eachlayer of property on model design and strive to establish amapping between evidence and model structures. We calibrate atwo-factor model that approximates these three layers ofproperties well, and show that a flexible specification for themarket price of risk is important in capturing the stylizedevidence in forecasting relations while factor interactions areindispensable in generating the hump-shaped dynamics of bondyields.     

Multi-factor Affine Term Structure Model with Single Regime Shift: Real Term Structure under Zero Interest Rate

In this paper, we extend the one-factor, single regime shift, affine term structure model with time-dependent regime-shift probability to a multi-factor model. We model the nominal interest rate and the expected inflation rate, and estimate the term structure of the real interest rate in the Japanese government bond market using inflation-indexed bond data under zero interest rates. Incorporating the economic structure that the Bank of Japan terminates the zero interest rate when the expected inflation rate gets out of deflationary regime, we estimate the yield curve of the real interest rate for less than 10 years, consistent with the expectation of the market participants in the Japanese government bond market, where inflation-indexed bonds are traded for only around 10 years.     

Identification of Maximal Affine Term Structure Models

Building on Duffie and Kan (1996) , we propose a new representation of affine models in which the state vector comprises infinitesimal maturity yields and their quadratic covariations. Because these variables possess unambiguous economic interpretations, they generate a representation that is globally identifiable. Further, this representation has more identifiable parameters than the “maximal” model of Dai and Singleton (2000) . We implement this new representation for select three‐factor models and find that model‐independent estimates for the state vector can be estimated directly from yield curve data, which present advantages for the estimation and interpretation of multifactor models.     

Linear‐Rational Term Structure Models

We introduce the class of linear‐rational term structure models in which the state price density is modeled such that bond prices become linear‐rational functions of the factors. This class is highly tractable with several distinct advantages: (i) ensures nonnegative interest rates, (ii) easily accommodates unspanned factors affecting volatility and risk premiums, and (iii) admits semi‐analytical solutions to swaptions. A parsimonious model specification within the linear‐rational class has a very good fit to both interest rate swaps and swaptions since 1997 and captures many features of term structure, volatility, and risk premium dynamics—including when interest rates are close to the zero lower bound.