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Forces that shape the yield curve

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  • Mark Fisher

Abstract

The yield curve shows how the yield on a government bond depends on the bond's maturity. Monetary policymakers and observers pay special attention to the shape of the yield curve as an indicator of the economic impact of current and future monetary policy. Without the proper analytical tools, however, drawing inferences from the yield curve can be difficult. This article uses high-school algebra to introduce those tools in a rigorous but accessible way. ; The author develops the basic ideas about the yield curve using an analogy. Next, he discusses bond pricing in a world of perfect certainty, where no-arbitrage conditions are first worked out algebraically. The element of uncertainty is then added via a single flip of a coin, and the no-arbitrage conditions for bond prices are worked out for this scenario as well. These no-arbitrage conditions are shown to imply the existence of a risk premium that depends on the price of risk and the amount of risk. Finally, the article demonstrates how to translate the no-arbitrage condition for bond prices into a no-arbitrage condition for yields. ; The author concludes that convexity-the nonlinear relation between bond yields and bond prices-leads to surprising and even counterintuitive results in yield-curve analysis. A firm grasp of the no-arbitrage conditions is therefore necessary in order to make sense of the shape of the yield curve.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Fisher, 2001. "Forces that shape the yield curve," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 86(Q1), pages 1-15.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedaer:y:2001:i:q1:p:1-15:n:v.86no.1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vasicek, Oldrich, 1977. "An equilibrium characterization of the term structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 177-188, November.
    2. Cox, John C & Ingersoll, Jonathan E, Jr & Ross, Stephen A, 1981. "A Re-examination of Traditional Hypotheses about the Term Structure of Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 36(4), pages 769-799, September.
    3. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron S, 1973. "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 637-654, May-June.
    4. Mark Fisher, 2001. "Forces that shape the yield curve: Parts 1 and 2," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2001-3, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
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    Cited by:

    1. Connolly, Robert & Dubofsky, David & Stivers, Chris, 2018. "Macroeconomic uncertainty and the distant forward-rate slope," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 140-161.
    2. GlennD. Rudebusch & Tao Wu, 2008. "A Macro-Finance Model of the Term Structure, Monetary Policy and the Economy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(530), pages 906-926, July.
    3. Krishna Ramaswamy & Choong-Tze Chua & Winston T.H. Koh, 2004. "Profiting from Mean-Reverting Yield Curve Trading Strategies," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 142, Econometric Society.
    4. Christophe, Faugere, 2003. "A Required Yield Theory of Stock Market Valuation and Treasury Yield Determination," MPRA Paper 15579, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Jun 2009.
    5. Alain Durré, 2006. "The Liquidity Premium in the Money Market: A Comparison of the German Mark Period and the Euro Area," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 7, pages 163-187, May.
    6. Mark Fisher, 2001. "Forces that shape the yield curve: Parts 1 and 2," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2001-3, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    7. Durré, Alain & Evjen, Snorre & Pilegaard, Rasmus, 2003. "Estimating risk premia in money market rates," Working Paper Series 221, European Central Bank.
    8. Carlos E. Zarazaga, 2010. "The difficult art of eliciting long-run inflation expectations from government bond prices," Staff Papers, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, issue Mar.
    9. Lutz Kruschwitz, 2018. "Das Problem der Anschlussverzinsung," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 9-45, March.

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