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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

This paper studies whether the upward trend of real energy prices since the 1990s can account for the decreasing trend of real interest rates in energy importers. Using VARs, I first provide empirical evidence that a rise in real energy prices leads to a fall in real interest rate in...

In this paper, we discuss the consequences of taking into account the variations of the natural real interest rate (rt*) in simple monetary policy rules. We also provide one possible model-based analysis of the level of rt* that has prevailed in the euro area since the early 1970s, and present...

The real exchange rate - real interest rate (RERI) relationship is central to most open economy macroeconomic models. However, empirical support for the relationship, especially when cointegration-based methods are used, is rather weak. In this paper we reinvestigate the RERI relationship using...

We study the low frequency comovements in unemployment, inflation and the federal funds rate in the U.S. From 1970 through 1979 all three series trended up together; after 1979 they all trended down. The conventional explanation for the buildup of inflation in the 1970's is that the Fed reacted...

We evaluate the policy of flexible inflation targeting implemented by the Norges Bank since March 2001. We discuss the reasons why the real interest rates are significantly higher in Norway than in the rest of Europe. Finally we propose some institutional changes that can improve the policy...

We propose methods for constructing regularized mixtures of density forecasts. We explore a variety of objectives and regularization penalties, and we use them in a substantive exploration of Eurozone inflation and real interest rate density forecasts. All individual inflation forecasters...

We propose a new method to estimate the unobservable natural real rate of interest in the United States (US). We begin by describing the natural rate in the New Keynesian model and then theoretically linking its evolution to both demand and supply-side shocks hitting the US economy. Our results...

A standard proposition in open-economy macroeconomics is that a central-bank-engineered increase in the real interest rate makes domestic government debt more attractive and leads to a real appreciation. If, however, the increase in the real interest rate also increases the probability of...