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Addicted to Debt: Foreign Purchases of U.S. Treasuries and the Term Premium

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  • David Kohn

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds by foreigners on long-term yields and the term-premium. I set up a consumption-based model with habit preferences, calibrate it to match the average slope of the yield curve in the U.S., and find that foreign purchases decreased long-term yields significantly over the period prior to the financial crisis. Half of this change is explained by a drop in the term-premium: in the model, foreign purchases increase domestic agents' consumption above their habit, thus reducing their risk-aversion and decreasing the term-premium. Finally, I investigate the potential impact of a sell-off of U.S. Treasuries by foreigners. I show that such a reversal of foreign inflows would result in a sharp increase in the term-premium and, thus, in long-term yields.

Suggested Citation

  • David Kohn, 2017. "Addicted to Debt: Foreign Purchases of U.S. Treasuries and the Term Premium," Documentos de Trabajo 480, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    • Handle: RePEc:ioe:doctra:480
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    File URL: https://www.economia.uc.cl/docs/doctra/dt-480.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Zhengyang Jiang & Hanno Lustig & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Mindy Z. Xiaolan, 2024. "The U.S. Public Debt Valuation Puzzle," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(4), pages 1309-1347, July.
    2. Fernando Broner & Alberto Martin & Lorenzo Pandolfi & Tomas Williams, 2019. "Winners and losers from Sovereign debt inflows: evidence from the stock market," Economics Working Papers 1693, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    3. Rodrigo Alfaro & Mauricio Calani, 2018. "Pension Funds and the Yield Curve: The Role of Preference for Maturity," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 821, Central Bank of Chile.
    4. Jesus Sierra, 2014. "International Capital Flows and Bond Risk Premia," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(01), pages 1-36.
    5. Jiang, Zhengyang & Lustig, Hanno & Van Nieuwerburgh, Stijn & Xiaolan, Mindy Z., 2019. "The Government Risk Premium Puzzle," Research Papers 3831, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    6. Francois John Nana, 2020. "Foreign official holdings of US treasuries, stock effect and the economy: a DSGE approach," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-28, January.
    7. Broner, Fernando & Martin, Alberto & Pandolfi, Lorenzo & Williams, Tomas, 2021. "Winners and losers from sovereign debt inflows," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E43 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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