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Extracting Information from Spot Interest Rates and Credit Ratings using Double Higher-Order Hidden Markov Models

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Author Info
Tak-Kuen Siu ()
Wai-Ki Ching ()
Eric Fung ()
Michael Ng ()

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Abstract

Estimating and forecasting the unobservable states of an economy are important and practically relevant topics in economics. Central bankers and regulators can use information about the market expectations on the hidden states of the economy as a reference for decision and policy makings, for instance, deciding monetary policies. Spot interest rates and credit ratings of bonds contain important information about the hidden sequence of the states of the economy. In this paper, we develop double higher-order hidden Markov chain models (DHHMMs) for extracting information about the hidden sequence of the states of an economy from the spot interest rates and credit ratings of bonds. We consider a discrete-state model described by DHHMMs and focus on the qualitative aspect of the unobservable states of the economy. The observable spot interest rates and credit ratings of bonds depend on the hidden states of the economy which are modelled by DHHMMs. The DHHMMs can incorporate the persistent phenomena of the time series of spot interest rates and the credit ratings. We employ the maximum likelihood method and the EM algorithm, namely Viterbi's algorithm, to uncover the optimal hidden sequence of the states of the economy which can be interpreted the “best” estimate of the sequence of the underlying economic states generating the spot interest rates and credit ratings of the bonds. Then, we develop an efficient maximum likelihood estimation method to estimate the unknown parameters in our model. Numerical experiment will be conducted to illustrate the implementation of the model. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2005

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal Computational Economics.

Volume (Year): 26 (2005)
Issue (Month): 3 (November)
Pages: 69-102
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Handle: RePEc:kap:compec:v:26:y:2005:i:3:p:69-102

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Related research
Keywords: double higher-order hidden markov model; credit ratings; long range dependence; optimal hidden economic states; spot interest rates;

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  3. Ang, Andrew & Bekaert, Geert, 2002. "Regime Switches in Interest Rates," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(2), pages 163-82, April.
    Other versions:
  4. Christian B. Mulder & Brieuc Montfort, 2000. "Using Credit Ratings for Capital Requirements on Lending to Emerging Market Economies - Possible Impact of a New Basel Accord," IMF Working Papers 00/69, International Monetary Fund.
  5. Anil Bangia & Francis X. Diebold & Til Schuermann, 2000. "Ratings Migration and the Business Cycle, With Application to Credit Portfolio Stress Testing," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 00-26, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Detemple, Jerome B, 1986. " Asset Pricing in a Production Economy with Incomplete Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 41(2), pages 383-91, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Gerlach, Stefan, 2003. "Interpreting the term structure of interbank rates in Hong Kong," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 593-609, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Duan, Jin-Chuan & Jacobs, Kris, 1996. "A simple long-memory equilibrium interest rate model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 317-321, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Sargent, Thomas J, 1973. "Interest Rates and Prices in the Long Run: A Study of the Gibson Paradox," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 5(1), pages 385-449, Part II F. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Jarrow, Robert A & Lando, David & Turnbull, Stuart M, 1997. "A Markov Model for the Term Structure of Credit Risk Spreads," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(2), pages 481-523.
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  12. James H. Stock & Mark W. Watson, 1989. "New Indexes of Coincident and Leading Economic Indicators," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1989, Volume 4, pages 351-409 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Thomas, Lyn C. & Allen, David E. & Morkel-Kingsbury, Nigel, 2002. "A hidden Markov chain model for the term structure of bond credit risk spreads," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 311-329. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Shin-ichi Fukuda & Takashi Onodera, 2001. "A New Composite Index of Coincident Economic Indicators in Japan: How can we improve the forecast performance? ," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-101, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. [Downloadable!]
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