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Reverse Engineering the Yield Curve

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Author Info
David K. Backus
Stanley E. Zin

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Abstract

Prices of riskfree bonds in any arbitrage-free environment are governed by a pricing kernel: given a kernel, we can compute prices of bonds of any maturity we like. We use observed prices of multi-period bonds to estimate, in a log-linear theoretical setting, the pricing kernel that gave rise to them. The high-order dynamics of our estimated kernel help to explain why first-order, one-factor models of the term structure have had difficulty reconciling the shape of the yield curve with the persistence of the short rate. We use the estimated kernel to provide a new perspective on Hansen-Jagannathan bounds, the price of risk, and the pricing of bond options and futures.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 4676.

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Date of creation: Mar 1994
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:4676

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E43 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Determination of Interest Rates; Term Structure of Interest Rates
G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing

This item is featured on the following reading lists:

  1. Recursive Macroeconomic Theory
References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Constantinides, George M, 1992. "A Theory of the Nominal Term Structure of Interest Rates," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(4), pages 531-52. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Hansen, Lars Peter & Jagannathan, Ravi, 1991. "Implications of Security Market Data for Models of Dynamic Economies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(2), pages 225-62, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Chan, K C, et al, 1992. " An Empirical Comparison of Alternative Models of the Short-Term Interest Rate," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(3), pages 1209-27, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Turnbull, Stuart M & Milne, Frank, 1991. "A Simple Approach to Interest-Rate Option Pricing," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 4(1), pages 87-120. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Stambaugh, Robert F., 1988. "The information in forward rates : Implications for models of the term structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 41-70, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Bekaert, Geert & Hodrick, Robert J, 1992. " Characterizing Predictable Components in Excess Returns on Equity and Foreign Exchange Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 467-509, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Merton, Robert C, 1973. "An Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(5), pages 867-87, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Vasicek, Oldrich, 1977. "An equilibrium characterization of the term structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 177-188, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Hansen, Lars Peter, 1982. "Large Sample Properties of Generalized Method of Moments Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 1029-54, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. David K. Backus & Stanley E. Zin, 1993. "Long-memory inflation uncertainty: evidence from the term structure of interest rates," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 681-708.
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  11. Schaefer, Stephen M & Schwartz, Eduardo S, 1987. " Time-Dependent Variance and the Pricing of Bond Options," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(5), pages 1113-28, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Jamshidian, Farshid, 1989. " An Exact Bond Option Formula," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 44(1), pages 205-09, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. John Y. Campbell, 1987. "Bond and Stock Returns in a Simple Exchange Model," NBER Working Papers 1509, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Michael J. Brennan and Eduardo S. Schwartz., 1979. "A Continuous-Time Approach to the Pricing of Bonds," Research Program in Finance Working Papers 85, University of California at Berkeley.
  15. Cox, John C & Ingersoll, Jonathan E, Jr & Ross, Stephen A, 1985. "A Theory of the Term Structure of Interest Rates," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(2), pages 385-407, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Gibbons, Michael R & Ramaswamy, Krishna, 1993. "A Test of the Cox, Ingersoll, and Ross Model of the Term Structure," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(3), pages 619-58. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Meulbroek, Lisa, 1992. " A Comparison of Forward and Futures Prices of an Interest Rate-Sensitive Financial Asset," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 381-96, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Cox, John C. & Ingersoll, Jonathan Jr. & Ross, Stephen A., 1981. "The relation between forward prices and futures prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 321-346, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Sun, Tong-sheng, 1992. "Real and Nominal Interest Rates: A Discrete-Time Model and Its Continuous-Time Limit," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(4), pages 581-611. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Longstaff, Francis A & Schwartz, Eduardo S, 1992. " Interest Rate Volatility and the Term Structure: A Two-Factor General Equilibrium Model," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1259-82, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Gallant, Ronald & Tauchen, George, 1989. "Seminonparametric Estimation of Conditionally Constrained Heterogeneous Processes: Asset Pricing Applications," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(5), pages 1091-1120, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. John H. Cochrane & Lars Peter Hansen, 1992. "Asset Pricing Explorations for Macroeconomics," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1992, Volume 7, pages 115-182 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  23. Ho, Thomas S Y & Lee, Sang-bin, 1986. " Term Structure Movements and Pricing Interest Rate Contingent Claims," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 41(5), pages 1011-29, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Brennan, Michael J. & Schwartz, Eduardo S., 1979. "A continuous time approach to the pricing of bonds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 133-155, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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