This paper empirically examines the effect of population growth on real interest rates. Although this effect is well founded in macroeconomic theory, the corresponding empirical results have been rather tenuous. Demographic interest rate theories are typically based on long-term relationships...

What can explain the long-term decline in equilibrium real interest rates? We analyze the importance of three of the most cited drivers; decreasing fertility, decreasing mortality, and a slowdown of technological growth. We do this through the lens of a general-equilibrium, two-country,...

The acceleration of house price growth amidst falling interest rates to record-low levels across euro area countries between 2015 and 2021 has sparked renewed interest in the link between the two variables. Asset-pricing theory suggests that real house prices respond to changes in real interest...

How do real interest rates affect financial fragility? We study this issue in a model in which bank borrowing is subject to rollover risk. A bank’s optimal borrowing trades off the benefit from investing additional funds into profitable assets with the cost of greater risk of a run by bank...

How do real interest rates affect financial fragility? We study this issue in a model in which bank borrowing is subject to rollover risk. A bank's optimal borrowing trades off the benefit from investing additional funds into profitable assets with the cost of greater risk of a run by bank...

By adopting wavelet coherence analysis, we follow Frankel’s (1986) commodity price overshooting model to study the dynamic covariation between the expected real interest rates and six agricultural commodities’ real returns over the period from 2000:1 to 2018:7. We find that US unconventional...

The trend real interest rate is important for monetary policy decision making and understanding the secular decline in interest rates. Many papers have estimated it. However, the uncertainty surrounding these estimates is substantial. In this paper, using the US data, we construct a new measure...

TIPS (Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities), or the real yield, are directly and inversely impacted by Fed Asset levels to the degree they depart from real GDP growth (the excess of monetary capital thus created reduces the real yield obtainable since it outpaces real GDP growth which is the...

We evaluate the recent evidence for real interest parity, focusing on long-term yields. Examining the data on financial instruments of various maturities across the G7 countries, we find substantial differences in the degree of real interest equalization measured at different horizons. In...

We propose a simple methodology to estimate the short-term natural rate of interest (NRI) in small open economies. Following Clarida et al.(2002), the NRI depends on the expected growth of (1) domestic potential output and (2) output abroad. We use observable expectations within an estimated...

In a world of integrated capital markets, the price of credit — which I measure by short-term expected real interest rates — is determined to equate the world aggregate of investment demand to the world aggregate of desired national saving. I implement this approach empirically by...

Negative real short-term rates occur with much higher frequency after the turn of the millennium than in the 40 years prior. This phenomenon corresponds with a significant drop in growth after 2000. In a standard representative agent consumption-based asset pricing framework with external habit,...

The behavior of market forces in macroeconomics is not instantaneous. We cannot experience the impact of those forces instantly like fire or wind. We would feel the behavior of market forces such as inflation, unemployment, stock markets, interest rates and exchange rates only with a time lag...

We study the dynamics of consumption, the real interest rate, and measures of labor input in Japan over the period from 1985-2014. We identify structural breaks in macroeconomic aggregates during the 1990s and associate them with the zero interest rate policy pursued by the Bank of Japan and the...

This paper proposes long-run estimates of ex ante real interest rates in Switzerland and other developed economies, and it describes their relative evolution. Our results highlight the decline in-and convergence of-global real interest rates that has unfolded over the last three decades for all...

The neutral real rate of interest (r*) is a key variable for assessing the tightness of monetary policy. The neutral real interest rate has by all accounts fallen substantially over the past three decades, amid slowing productivity growth, an ageing population, increased inequality and increased...

This paper analyzes the effects of the real policy interest rate on the banking sector lending rate, the deposit rate, real stock prices, and the real exchange rate using the Engle Granger cointegration method (EG), the vector error-correction model (VECM), and the nonlinear vector...

We build a novel macro-finance model that combines a semi-structural macroeconomic module with arbitrage-free yield-curve dynamics. We estimate it for the United States and the euro area using a Bayesian approach and jointly infer the real equilibrium interest rate (r*), trend inflation (π*),...

The COVID-19 pandemic forced much of the world to adapt suddenly to severe restrictions. In this study, we attempt to quantify the impact of the pandemic on student performance in higher education. To collect data on important covariates, we conducted a survey among first-year students of...

With close to 30 emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) using inflation targeting to determine monetary policy, and many of them for over 15 years, it is possible to create a meaningful measure of neutral real interest rates in these economies. The neutral real interest rate provides...

Over the last few decades, real interest rates have trended downward in many countries. The most common explanation is that this reflects depressed demand due to demographic, technological and other real factors such as income inequality. In this paper we explore the claim that these trends may...