We introduce a Nelson-Siegel type interest rate term structure model with the underlying yield factors following autoregressive processes revealing time-varying stochastic volatility. The factor volatilities capture risk inherent to the term struc- ture and are associated with the time-varying...

The primary objective of this paper is to compare a variety of joint models of the term structure of interest rates and the macroeconomy. To this end, we consider six alternative approaches. Three of these models follow from the work of Diebold and Li (2003) with a generalization in Bolder...

A well-documented empirical result is that market expectations extracted from futures contracts on the federal funds rate are among the best predictors for the future course of monetary policy. We show how this information can be exploited to produce accurate forecasts of bond excess returns and...

The effect of incomplete information on the term structure of interest rates is examined in the framework of a pure exchange economy under uncertainty. When the growth rate of the aggregate endowment is known, the term structure is flat and deterministic. When agents do not observe the...

This article shows that the "risk premium" shock in Smets and Wouters (2007) can be interpreted as a structural shock to the demand for safe and liquid assets such as short-term US Treasury securities. Several implications of this interpretation are discussed.

We analyze monetary conditions in US asset markets - corporate equity, real estate, Treasury bond and corporate & foreign bond - from a market specific perspective, proposing the concept of market leverage. Market leverage measures the average leverage of all asset holders in a particular asset...

This paper proposes a generalized arbitrage-free macro finance term structure model with both Nelson-Siegel latent yield factors and observable macro factors. Two subclasses are derived: spanned and unspanned models. In the spanned model, the yields are determined by both the Nelson-Siegel yield...

Gone are the days when inflation fears had receded under years of 'Great Moderation' in macroeconomics. The US subprime financial crisis, the ensuing 'Great Recession' and the sovereign debt scares that spread throughout much of the industrialized world brought about a new order characterized by...

Now that Congress has passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, regulators promulgating the rules under this new bill must tackle a major problem that the reform bill addresses only indirectly. This is the problem of excessive “leverage” – financing with too...

Accepted wisdom, assuming capital market equilibrium and low cash returns, advises investors to hold optimal portfolios containing little cash. But credit crunches - periods of non-price credit rationing when effective cash yields are very high - happen in the real world. Because of this, it is...