This paper contains a statistical description of the whole U.S. forward rate curve (FRC), based on data from the period 1990-1996. We find that the average deviation of the FRC from the spot rate grows as the square- root of the maturity, with a proportionality constant which is comparable to...

Recent empirical results about the US term structure are difficult to reconcile with the classical hypothesis of rational expectations even if time-varying but stationary term premia are allowed for. A hypothesis of rational learning about the conditional variance of the log pricing kernel is...

The paper uses functional auto-regression to predict the dynamics of interest rate curve. It estimates the auto-regressive operator by extending methods of the reduced-rank auto-regression to the functional data. Such an estimation technique is better suited for prediction purposes as opposed to...

We present a dynamic term structure model in which interest rates of all maturities are bounded from below at zero. Positivity and continuity, combined with no arbitrage, result in only one functional form for the term structure with three sources of risk. One dynamic factor controls the level...

The influence of heterogeneous time preferences on the term structure is investigated. Motivated by the Preferred Habitat Theory of Modigliani and Sutch, a model for intertemporal preferences accounting for preferred habitats is proposed. In a heterogeneous world, preferred habitats can explain...

This paper considers a class of Heath-Jarrow-Morton (1992) term structure models, characterized by time deterministic volatilities for the instantaneous forward rate. The bias that arises from using observed futures yields as a proxy for the unobserved instantaneous forward rate is analyzed. The...

Financial turbulence is a phenomenon occurring in anti - persistent markets. In contrast, financial crises occur in persistent markets. A relationship can be established between these two extreme phenomena of long term market dependence and the older financial concept of financial...

We consider the design and estimation of quadratic term structure models. We start with a list of stylized facts on interest rates and interest rate derivatives, classified into three layers: (1) general statistical properties, (2) forecasting relations, and (3) conditional dynamics. We then...

Through explicitly incorporating analysts' forecasts as observable factors in a dynamic arbitrage- free model of the yield curve, this paper proposes a framework for studying the impact of shifts in market sentiment on interest rates of all maturities. An empirical examination reveals that...

The Convolution and Master equations governing the time behavior of the term structure of Interest Rates are set up both for continuous variables and for their discretised forms. The notion of Seed is introduced. The discretised theoretical distributions matching the empirical data from the...