IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/oruesi/2024_003.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

US Interest Rates: Are Relations Stable?

Author

Listed:

Abstract

In this paper, we assess whether key relations between US interest rates have been stable over time. This is done by estimating trivariate hybrid time-varying parameter Bayesian VAR models with stochastic volatility for the three-month Treasury bill rate, the slope of the Treasury yield curve and the corporate bond-yield spread. As a methodological contribution, we also allow for disturbances with heavy tails. We analyse monthly data from April 1953 to February 2023 both within- and out-of-sample. Our results indicate that the relations have not been stable; more speci cally, there is evidence that the equation of the corporate bond-yield spread is subject to time variation in its parameters. We also nd that an increase in the corporate bond-yield spread decreases the risk free rate. Finally, we note that while allowing for heavy tails receives a fair amount of support within sample, it appears to be of more limited importance from a forecasting p

Suggested Citation

  • Karlsson, Sune & Kiss, Tamás & Nguyen, Hoang & Österholm, Pär, 2024. "US Interest Rates: Are Relations Stable?," Working Papers 2024:3, Örebro University, School of Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2024_003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.oru.se/globalassets/oru-sv/institutioner/hh/workingpapers/workingpapers2024/wp-3-2024.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geweke, J, 1993. "Bayesian Treatment of the Independent Student- t Linear Model," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(S), pages 19-40, Suppl. De.
    2. Joshua C. C. Chan & Eric Eisenstat, 2018. "Bayesian model comparison for time‐varying parameter VARs with stochastic volatility," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 509-532, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joshua C. C. Chan, 2024. "BVARs and stochastic volatility," Chapters, in: Michael P. Clements & Ana Beatriz Galvão (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Macroeconomic Forecasting, chapter 3, pages 43-67, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Joshua C. C. Chan & Liana Jacobi & Dan Zhu, 2022. "An automated prior robustness analysis in Bayesian model comparison," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(3), pages 583-602, April.
    3. Antolín-Díaz, Juan & Drechsel, Thomas & Petrella, Ivan, 2024. "Advances in nowcasting economic activity: The role of heterogeneous dynamics and fat tails," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 238(2).
    4. Cross, Jamie & Poon, Aubrey, 2016. "Forecasting structural change and fat-tailed events in Australian macroeconomic variables," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 34-51.
    5. Olawale Awe O. & Adedayo Adepoju A., 2018. "Modified Recursive Bayesian Algorithm For Estimating Time-Varying Parameters In Dynamic Linear Models," Statistics in Transition New Series, Statistics Poland, vol. 19(2), pages 258-293, June.
    6. Kelly Trinh & Bo Zhang & Chenghan Hou, 2025. "Macroeconomic real‐time forecasts of univariate models with flexible error structures," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(1), pages 59-78, January.
    7. Angelica Gianfreda & Francesco Ravazzolo & Luca Rossini, 2020. "Large Time-Varying Volatility Models for Electricity Prices," Working Papers No 05/2020, Centre for Applied Macro- and Petroleum economics (CAMP), BI Norwegian Business School.
    8. Haroon Mumtaz & Fulvia Marotta, 2023. "Vulnerability to Climate Change: Evidence from a Dynamic Factor Model," Working Papers 961, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    9. Chen, Bin-xia & Sun, Yan-lin, 2024. "Risk characteristics and connectedness in cryptocurrency markets: New evidence from a non-linear framework," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(PA).
    10. Moeltner, Klaus, 2019. "Bayesian nonlinear meta regression for benefit transfer," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 44-62.
    11. Zhu, Qinwen & Diao, Xundi & Wu, Chongfeng, 2023. "Volatility forecast with the regularity modifications," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    12. Susan L. Ettner & Betsy L. Cadwell & Louise B. Russell & Arleen Brown & Andrew J. Karter & Monika Safford & Carol Mangione & Gloria Beckles & William H. Herman & Theodore J. Thompson & and The TRIAD S, 2009. "Investing time in health: do socioeconomically disadvantaged patients spend more or less extra time on diabetes self‐care?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(6), pages 645-663, June.
    13. Bassetti, Federico & De Giuli, Maria Elena & Nicolino, Enrica & Tarantola, Claudia, 2018. "Multivariate dependence analysis via tree copula models: An application to one-year forward energy contracts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(3), pages 1107-1121.
    14. Francesco Pattarin, 2018. "Spending Policies of Italian Banking Foundations," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 0071, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    15. Vasco Cúrdia & Marco Del Negro & Daniel L. Greenwald, 2014. "Rare Shocks, Great Recessions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(7), pages 1031-1052, November.
    16. Efthymios G. Tsionas, 2006. "Inference in dynamic stochastic frontier models," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(5), pages 669-676, July.
    17. Karlsson, Sune & Mazur, Stepan, 2020. "Flexible Fat-tailed Vector Autoregression," Working Papers 2020:5, Örebro University, School of Business.
    18. Karlsson, Sune & Mazur, Stepan & Nguyen, Hoang, 2023. "Vector autoregression models with skewness and heavy tails," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    19. Fernández, C. & Steel, M.F.J., 1997. "On the Dangers of Modelling through Continuous Distributions : A Bayesian Perspective," Other publications TiSEM 53bef46d-6511-4d09-9018-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. Michael Curran & Patrick O'Sullivan & Ryan Zalla, 2020. "Can Volatility Solve the Naive Portfolio Puzzle?," Papers 2005.03204, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2022.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bayesian inference; Stochastic volatility; Orthogonal Students t distribution; Time-varying parameter VAR;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • E47 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
    • G17 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Financial Forecasting and Simulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2024_003. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ieoruse.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.