The Survey-Based Term Premium in Comparison to the Realized Term Premium

This article constructs a 10-year realized term premium from the 10-year zero coupon Treasury yield in year 1 and the ex post three-month Treasury yields from years 1 to 10. The realized term premium swung wildly until the mid-1980s, and then fluctuated within a fairly stable range showing no trend. In comparison, the term premium derived from surveys of interest rate forecasts (survey-based term premium) was substantially lower than the realized term premium and trended downward since the early 1990s. The large and systematic forecast errors in combination with the stability of the realized term premium suggest possibilities that professional forecasters might have missed the term premium demanded by investors (ex ante term premium) by a wide margin and/or that investors forecast the future paths of interest rates more accurately than professional forecasters. It is also unclear that the survey-based term premium fairly represents the professional forecasters’ estimate of the ex ante term premium, not to mention the ex ante term premium itself. While it would be a daunting task to verify these possibilities, it is fairly clear that surveys of interest rate forecasts are of limited value as an investment guide.

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-52
Author(s):  
Richard J. Cebula

This study empirically investigates the “relative tax gap hypothesis,” which posits that the greater the size of the relative tax gap, the greater the degree to which the U.S. Treasury must borrow from domestic and/or other credit markets and hence the higher the ex ante real interest rate yield on the Bellwether 30 year U.S. Treasury bond. The study uses the most current data available for computing what is referred to here as the “relative tax gap,” which is the ratio of the aggregate tax gap (the loss in federal income tax revenue resulting from personal income tax evasion) to the GDP level. For each year of the study period, the nominal value of the tax gap is scaled by the nominal GDP level and expressed as a percentage. The study period runs from 1982 through 2016, reflecting data availability for all of the variables. The estimation results provide strong support for the hypothesis. In addition, in separate estimations, evidence is provided that the relative tax gap also acts to elevate the ex ante real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa-rated long-term corporate bonds. It logically follows, then, that to the extent that a greater relative tax gap leads to higher ex ante real interest rates, it may contribute to the crowding out of corporate investment in new plant equipment associated heretofore with government budget deficits per se.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Rognlie ◽  
Andrei Shleifer ◽  
Alp Simsek

We present a model of investment hangover motivated by the Great Recession. Overbuilding of durable capital such as housing requires a reallocation of productive resources to other sectors, which is facilitated by a reduction in the interest rate. When monetary policy is constrained, overbuilding induces a demand-driven recession with limited reallocation and low output. Investment in other capital initially declines due to low demand, but it later booms and induces an asymmetric recovery in which the overbuilt sector is left behind. Welfare can be improved by ex post policies that stimulate investment (including in overbuilt capital) and ex ante policies that restrict investment. (JEL E22, E23, E32, E43, E52, R21, R31)


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lekha S Chakraborty ◽  
Darshy Sinha

We analyse the fiscal marksmanship of the macro-fiscal variables of Union Government ex-ante and ex-post to the formulation of fiscal rules in India. The fiscal marksmanship is the accuracy of budgetary forecasting. The fiscal rules have been legally mandated in India in the form of fiscal responsibility and budget management Act (FRBM Act) in 2003, with a criteria of fiscal-deficit to GDP threshold ratio of 3 per cent and gradual phasing out of revenue deficit. Using Theil’s inequality coefficient (U) based on the mean square prediction error, the paper estimates the magnitude of errors in the budgetary forecasts in India during the period ex-ante and ex-post to fiscal rules, and also decomposed the errors into biasedness, unequal variation and random components. The decomposition of errors is to analyze the source of error in both the regimes. Our results found that in both regimes, the proportion of error due to random variation has been significantly higher, which is beyond the control of the forecaster. In other words, the error due to bias of the policy maker in preparing the Union Budget has been negligible in the period ex-ante and ex-post to fiscal responsibility and budget management (FRBM) Act in India. The estimates also showed that the errors due to policy maker’s bias has comparatively reduced in the regime ex-post to fiscal rules. The analysis related to efficiency of forecasts showed that no significant improvement in forecasts over time. This result has significant policy implications especially in the context of repeal of 2003 FRBM Act in India and the Union Government has announced clauses for a ‘New FRBM Act’ in India in the Finance Bill 2018.


2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut Herwartz ◽  
Hans-Eggert Reimers

We pursue a semiparametric approach to examining core implications of the Fisher hypothesis, namely cointegration linking nominal interest rates and inflation, and homogeneity of the potential equilibrium relation. The sample is an unbalanced panel and comprises monthly time series from more than 100 economies. The time period of at most 45 years is subdivided into three regimes according to dominating monetary policies. To exploit the cross-sectional dimension for inference on parameter homogeneity, we apply mean group estimation of functional coefficients that allow the conditioning of key model parameters on economic states. The evidence in favor of cointegration is weakened over states of negative real interest rates that are likely to coincide with scenarios of high inflation. The ex post real interest rate is mostly diagnosed as unstable. The Fisher hypothesis is particularly confirmed for states characterized by large positive interest rate adjustments during the inflation-targeting regime.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rüdiger Bachmann ◽  
Steffen Elstner ◽  
Eric R Sims

This paper uses survey expectations data to construct empirical proxies for time-varying business-level uncertainty. Access to the micro data from the German IFO Business Climate Survey permits construction of uncertainty measures based on both ex ante disagreement and ex post forecast errors. Ex ante disagreement is strongly correlated with dispersion in ex post forecast errors. Surprise movements in either measure lead to significant reductions in production that abate fairly quickly. We extend our analysis to US data, measuring uncertainty with forecast disagreement from the Business Outlook Survey. Surprise increases in forecast dispersion lead to more persistent reductions in production than in the German data. (JEL C53, C83, D81, E23, E27, E32, E37)


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haifeng Guo ◽  
Alexandros Kontonikas ◽  
Paulo Maio

Abstract We investigate the impact of monetary policy shocks on excess corporate bonds returns. We obtain a significant negative response of bond returns to policy shocks, which is especially strong among low-grading bonds. The largest portion of this response is related to higher expected bond returns (risk premium news), while the impact on expectations of future interest rates (interest rate news) plays a secondary role. However, the interest rate channel is dominant among high-grading bonds and Treasury bonds. Looking at the two components of bond premium news, we find that the dominant channel for high-rating (low-rating) bonds is term premium (credit premium) news. (JEL 44, E52, G10, G12) Received: March 25, 2019: Editorial decision: March 27, 2020 by Editor: Hui Chen. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.


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