The authors find that the use of Treasury securities to hedge mortgage-backed security extension risk may have magnified increases in long-term interest rates after the tightening of monetary policy in early 1994. Substantial increases in the duration of mortgage securities appear to have caused...

Because of the concentrated distribution of interest rates on outstanding mortgages, modest interest rate declines in 1997 and 1998 made refinancing a smart choice for a record number of homeowners. In addition, the strong economy and the age of mortgage loans likely contributed to the surge in...