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Understanding Inflation-Indexed Bond Markets

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Abstract

This paper explores the history of inflation-indexed bond markets in the US and the UK. It documents a massive decline in long-term real interest rates from the 1990's until 2008, followed by a sudden spike in these rates during the financial crisis of 2008. Breakeven inflation rates, calculated from inflation-indexed and nominal government bond yields, stabilized until the fall of 2008, when they showed dramatic declines. The paper asks to what extent short-term real interest rates, bond risks, and liquidity explain the trends before 2008 and the unusual developments in the fall of 2008. Low inflation-indexed yields and high short-term volatility of inflation-indexed bond returns do not invalidate the basic case for these bonds, that they provide a safe asset for long-term investors. Governments should expect inflation-indexed bonds to be a relatively cheap form of debt financing going forward, even though they have offered high returns over the past decade.

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File URL: http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/cd/d16b/d1696.pdf
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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University in its series Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers with number 1696.

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Length: 47 pages
Date of creation: May 2009
Date of revision:
Publication status: Published in Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (Spring 2009), 79-120
Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1696

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Keywords: Expectations hypothesis; Liquidity; Term premia; TIPS;

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References

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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Matthias Fleckenstein & Francis A. Longstaff & Hanno Lustig, 2010. "Why Does the Treasury Issue Tips? The Tips–Treasury Bond Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 16358, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Schulz, Alexander & Stapf, Jelena, 2009. "Price discovery on traded inflation expectations: does the financial crisis matter?," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2009,25, Deutsche Bundesbank, Research Centre.
  3. Kajuth, Florian & Watzka, Sebastian, 2008. "Inflation expectations from index-linked bonds: Correcting for liquidity and inflation risk premia," Discussion Papers in Economics 4858, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
  4. Dewachter, Hans & Iania, Leonardo, 2011. "An Extended Macro-Finance Model with Financial Factors," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(06), pages 1893-1916, December.
  5. John Y. Campbell & Robert J. Shiller & Luis M. Viceira, 2009. "Understanding Inflation-Indexed Bond Markets," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 40(1 (Spring), pages 79-138.
  6. Grishchenko, Olesya V., 2011. "Asset pricing in the production economy subject to monetary shocks," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 187-216, May.
  7. Marini, François, 2011. "Financial intermediation in the theory of the risk-free rate," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1663-1668, July.
  8. Jens H.E. Christensen & Jose A. Lopez & Glenn D. Rudebusch, 2012. "Extracting Deflation Probability Forecasts from Treasury Yields," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 8(4), pages 21-60, December.
  9. Geert Bekaert & Xiaozheng Wang, 2010. "Inflation risk and the inflation risk premium," Economic Policy, CEPR & CES & MSH, vol. 25, pages 755-806, October.

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