This paper addresses two questions. First, what causes the paper-bill spread to vary over time in anticipation of income fluctuations’? Second, why has the predictive power of the spread declined in recent years? Consistent with previous empirical work, the paper provides evidence for the...

The spread between the yields on six-month commercial paper and six- month Treasury bills (the paper-bill spread) has been shown to be a good predictor of macroeconomic variables such as GDP and real income, at least through the mid-1980s. In this working paper, Ferderer, Vogt, and Chahil...

This paper addresses two questions. First, what causes the paper-bill spread to vary over time in anticipation of income fluctuations ? Second, why has the predictive power of the spread declined in recent years? Consistent with previous empirical work, the paper provides evidence for the...

The spread between the yields on six-month commercial paper and six-month Treasury bills (the paper-bill spread) has been shown to be a good predictor of macroeconomic variables such as GDP and real income, at least through the mid-1980s. In this working paper, Ferderer, Vogt, and Chahil explore...