This paper implements an emerging data-driven method of directed acyclic graphs to study the contemporaneous causal structure among the federal funds rate and U.S. Treasury bond yields of various maturities. Using high frequency daily data from 1994 to 2009, we find that innovations in the...

In this paper we systematically evaluate how central banks respond to deviations from the inflation target. We present a stylized New Keynesian model in which agents' inflation expectations are sensitive to deviations from the inflation target. To (re-) establish credibility, monetary policy...

The paper uses a reduced-form vector autoregressive framework to study the effects of quantitative easing and operation “twist”, as well as a conventional monetary expansion, on corporate bond yields and spreads. We construct rating- and maturity-based weekly bond portfolios using TRACE and...

U.S. estimates of the natural rate of interest – the real short-term interest rate that would prevail absent transitory disturbances – have declined dramatically since the start of the global financial crisis. For example, estimates using the Laubach-Williams (2003) model indicate the...

This paper provides an overview of the analysis of the term structure of interest rates with a special emphasis on recent developments at the intersection of macroeconomics and finance. The topic is important to investors and also to policymakers, who wish to extract macroeconomic expectations...

We propose an Adaptive Dynamic Nelson–Siegel (ADNS) model to adaptively detect parameter changes and forecast the yield curve. The model is simple yet flexible and can be safely applied to both stationary and nonstationary situations with different sources of parameter changes. For the 3- to...

This paper decomposes the break-even inflation rates derived from inflation-indexed bonds into inflation risk premia, liquidity risk premia, and inflation expectations. I estimate a common factor model with autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic (ARCH) errors that extracts co-movements...

Repurchase agreements for general-collateral government debt measure the short-term cost of riskless borrowing, thus avoiding issues relating to specialness of Treasury offerings or irregular term-to-maturity in the Treasury bill market. The spread between reverse and repo rates has previously...

In this paper, we propose an arbitrage-free international macro-finance model that links the exchange rate dynamics to macroeconomic fundamentals. Jointly using data on exchange rates, yields of zero-coupon bonds, and macroeconomic variables of the US and the Euro area, we find a close link...

Are exogenous shocks to lending spreads in corporate credit markets a substantial source of macroeconomic fluctuations? An alternative explanation of the data is that borrowing costs respond endogenously to expectations of future default, driven by macroeconomic shocks. We investigate by...