The dynamics of the unobservable "short" or "instantaneous" rate of interest are frequently estimated using a proxy variable. We show the biases resulting from this practice (the "proxy" problem) are related to the derivatives of the proxy with respect to the short rate and the (inverse)...

A careful examination of interest rate time series from different U.S. Treasury maturities by Wavelet Multiresolution Analysis (MRA) suggests that the first differences of the term structure of interest rate series are periodic or, at least, cyclic, non-stationary, long-term dependent, in...

This paper looks at the history of money and its modern form from a scientific and mathematical point of view. The approach here is to emphasize simplicity. A straightforward model and algebraic formula for a large economy analogous to the ideal gas law of thermodynamics is proposed. It may be...

This paper develops a new computational approach for general multi- factor Markovian interest rate models. The early exercise premium is derived for general American options. The option cash flows are decomposed into fast and slowly varying components. The fast components are option independent...

The determinants of money velocity are explored under various assumptions on interest rate uncertainty in a monetary general equilibrium model. It is found that the appearance of velocity function instability can be produced by overlooking interest rate stochastic volatility. In addition, when...

A widely used filter to extract a signal in a time series, in particular in the business cycle analysis, is the Hodrick-Prescott filter. The model that underlies the filter considers the data series as the sum of two unobserved component (signal and non signal) and a smoothing parameter which...

This paper proposes a simple and unifying model to price the interest rate contingent claims in a complete market where trading can be made in continuous time. The underlying dynamics of the yield curve is modelled by a random string whose trajectory produces a random surface described by a...

This paper extends the field of index number theory to the case of risk, by deriving the Divisia index from the Euler equations under risk, rather than from the first order conditions under perfect certainty, as was done by Francois Divisia. The result is an extended Divisia index which corrects...

This paper investigates the degree and nature of economic and monetary policy relations among the United States, the euro area, and the British area. Using daily interest rates, we estimate the impact of monetary policy announcements of a Central Bank on its domestic market and in what measure...

Recent empirical results about the US term structure are difficult to reconcile with the classical hypothesis of rational expectations even if time-varying but stationary term premia are allowed for. A hypothesis of rational learning about the conditional variance of the log pricing kernel is...