Research
‘Macroeconomic Implications of Changes in the Term Premium’
By Glenn Rudebusch, Brian Sack and Eric Swanson. Comments given at the conference “Frontiers in Monetary Policy Research” at the St. Louis Federal Reserve, October 19 2006. Of course, I can’t stick to the topic and offer a survey instead. In particular, lots of salty comments on the “conundrum” in long bond prices (silly, in my view). The paper from the St. Louis Fed website.
By Glenn Rudebusch, Brian Sack and Eric Swanson. Comments given at the conference “Frontiers in Monetary Policy Research” at the St. Louis Federal Reserve, October 19 2006. Of course, I can’t stick to the topic and offer a survey instead. In particular, lots of salty comments on the “conundrum” in long bond prices (silly, in my view). The paper from the St. Louis Fed website.
The Dog that Did Not Bark: A Defense of Return Predictability
Review of Financial Studies 21(4) 2008 1533-1575. Taken alone, returns may not look that predictable. However, price-dividend ratios vary, so either returns or dividend growth must be forecastable (or both). Implications for dividends, and long-run forecasts give strong statistical evidence against the null that returns are not forecatsable. I address the Goyal-Welch finding that forecasts do badly out of sample, and the long literature criticizing long-run forecasts. The most important practical takeaway: even if you assume that all variation in market p/d ratios comes from time-varying expected returns, and none corresponds to dividend growth forecasts, you will typically find that market-timing strategies based on fitting the regression don’t work. Corrected Table 6. Three numbers were wrong in the published version. Thanks to Camilla Pederson for catching it.
Review of Financial Studies 21(4) 2008 1533-1575. Taken alone, returns may not look that predictable. However, price-dividend ratios vary, so either returns or dividend growth must be forecastable (or both). Implications for dividends, and long-run forecasts give strong statistical evidence against the null that returns are not forecatsable. I address the Goyal-Welch finding that forecasts do badly out of sample, and the long literature criticizing long-run forecasts. The most important practical takeaway: even if you assume that all variation in market p/d ratios comes from time-varying expected returns, and none corresponds to dividend growth forecasts, you will typically find that market-timing strategies based on fitting the regression don’t work. Corrected Table 6. Three numbers were wrong in the published version. Thanks to Camilla Pederson for catching it.
International Risk Sharing is Better Than You Think, Or Exchange Rates are Too Smooth
With Michael Brandt and Pedro Santa Clara. Published Journal of Monetary Economics 53 (4) May 2006 671-698. Original July 2001 (NBER WP 8404) The equity premium means that marginal rates of substitution are very volatile, with more than 50% standard deviation. Exchange rates are the ratio of marginal rates of substitution, and they only vary by about 12%. Therefore, marginal rates of substitution must be highly correlated across countries. Risk sharing is better than you think.
With Michael Brandt and Pedro Santa Clara. Published Journal of Monetary Economics 53 (4) May 2006 671-698. Original July 2001 (NBER WP 8404) The equity premium means that marginal rates of substitution are very volatile, with more than 50% standard deviation. Exchange rates are the ratio of marginal rates of substitution, and they only vary by about 12%. Therefore, marginal rates of substitution must be highly correlated across countries. Risk sharing is better than you think.
Financial Markets and the Real Economy
Volume 18 of the International Library of Critical Writings in Financial Economics, John H. Cochrane Ed., London: Edward Elgar. March 2006. Edited volume of collected articles with an introduction surveying the field.
Volume 18 of the International Library of Critical Writings in Financial Economics, John H. Cochrane Ed., London: Edward Elgar. March 2006. Edited volume of collected articles with an introduction surveying the field.
Time series for macroeconomics and Finance
Lecture notes for PhD time series course. This revision finally includes the figures!
Lecture notes for PhD time series course. This revision finally includes the figures!
Writing tips for PhD students
May 2005. Some tips on how to write academic articles. Do as I say, not as I do. Chinese Translation, 2013. (Original source of chinese translation. Thanks to Shihe Fu)
May 2005. Some tips on how to write academic articles. Do as I say, not as I do. Chinese Translation, 2013. (Original source of chinese translation. Thanks to Shihe Fu)
Money as Stock
Journal of Monetary Economics 52:3, (2005) 501-528. Revision of NBER Working Paper 7498 Feb. 2000. The fiscal theory of the price level made simple. The `government budget constraint' is not a constraint. I reopen the security market at the end of the day in a cash in advance model, and show that the price level is still determinate. I also resolve the criticism that the fiscal theory mistreats the "government budget constraint."
Journal of Monetary Economics 52:3, (2005) 501-528. Revision of NBER Working Paper 7498 Feb. 2000. The fiscal theory of the price level made simple. The `government budget constraint' is not a constraint. I reopen the security market at the end of the day in a cash in advance model, and show that the price level is still determinate. I also resolve the criticism that the fiscal theory mistreats the "government budget constraint."
Bond Risk Premia
With Monika Piazzesi. American Economic Review 95:1, 138-160 (2005). We forecast one year bond excess returns with a 44% R2! More importantly, a single factor, a single linear combination of yields or forward rates, forecasts one-year returns of all maturity bonds. Read here the Appendix with lots of extra analysis. (Updated Sept 2006 to fix typos in forward rate formulas.) The NBER working paper has lots of cool stuff, including links to macro and the covariance with level result, that got trimmed from the published paper. Data and programs. Look at the pretty plot of how our forecasts work out of sample since we wrote the paper (Until the 2008 financial crisis, in which the Fama-Bliss procedure breaks down.) Read the Response to Ken Singleton regarding his criticism of our results in a paper with Dai and Yang, and then published in his book Empirical Dynamic Asset Pricing (Princeton, 2006). Overheads, useful if you want to teach the paper A summary with color graphs, and treatment of the period since the 2008 financial crisis, in lecture note form. Start on p 567.
With Monika Piazzesi. American Economic Review 95:1, 138-160 (2005). We forecast one year bond excess returns with a 44% R2! More importantly, a single factor, a single linear combination of yields or forward rates, forecasts one-year returns of all maturity bonds. Read here the Appendix with lots of extra analysis. (Updated Sept 2006 to fix typos in forward rate formulas.) The NBER working paper has lots of cool stuff, including links to macro and the covariance with level result, that got trimmed from the published paper. Data and programs. Look at the pretty plot of how our forecasts work out of sample since we wrote the paper (Until the 2008 financial crisis, in which the Fama-Bliss procedure breaks down.) Read the Response to Ken Singleton regarding his criticism of our results in a paper with Dai and Yang, and then published in his book Empirical Dynamic Asset Pricing (Princeton, 2006). Overheads, useful if you want to teach the paper A summary with color graphs, and treatment of the period since the 2008 financial crisis, in lecture note form. Start on p 567.
Asset Pricing
Revised Edition. link gives you a sample chapter. Click here to go to the Princeton University press website where you can order the book. (It is sometimes cheaper at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com. In Chicago, it’s available at the seminary COOP bookstore.)
Additional materials for Asset Pricing, lecture notes, new chapters, and the online class are now moved to their own page here, or via the Asset Pricing link at left.
Revised Edition. link gives you a sample chapter. Click here to go to the Princeton University press website where you can order the book. (It is sometimes cheaper at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com. In Chicago, it’s available at the seminary COOP bookstore.)
Additional materials for Asset Pricing, lecture notes, new chapters, and the online class are now moved to their own page here, or via the Asset Pricing link at left.
Investments notes
Notes for MBA investments classes. Summary of background (statistics, regression, time series, matrices, maximization) and a concise treatment of some of the standard topics (bond notation and expectations hypothesis, bond pricing)
Notes for MBA investments classes. Summary of background (statistics, regression, time series, matrices, maximization) and a concise treatment of some of the standard topics (bond notation and expectations hypothesis, bond pricing)
Liquidity, Trading and Asset Prices
NBER reporter, Jan 2005. A review of these issues in asset pricing.
NBER reporter, Jan 2005. A review of these issues in asset pricing.
Time series for macroeconomics and Finance
Jan 2005 Lecture notes for PhD time series course. This revision finally includes the figures!
Jan 2005 Lecture notes for PhD time series course. This revision finally includes the figures!
Comments on “Anomalies”
Anomalies by Lu Zhang, 2004 presented at the November 2004 AP meeting. A great paper, but a first-order condition is not an "explanation."
Anomalies by Lu Zhang, 2004 presented at the November 2004 AP meeting. A great paper, but a first-order condition is not an "explanation."
The Risk and Return of Venture Capital
(published version) Journal of Financial Economics, Volume 75, Issue 1, January 2005, 3-52. Last Manuscript Estimates the mean return, standard deviation, alpha and beta of venture capital investments, correcting for selection bias that we only see returns for successful projects. Even if you don’t like venture capital, the selection bias correction is interesting. Original December 2000. Appendix containing data and program descriptions plus extra algebra. See above data and programs link for data and programs.
(published version) Journal of Financial Economics, Volume 75, Issue 1, January 2005, 3-52. Last Manuscript Estimates the mean return, standard deviation, alpha and beta of venture capital investments, correcting for selection bias that we only see returns for successful projects. Even if you don’t like venture capital, the selection bias correction is interesting. Original December 2000. Appendix containing data and program descriptions plus extra algebra. See above data and programs link for data and programs.
A new measure of Monetary Policy
By Christina and David Romer, presented at the July 2004 EFG meeting.
By Christina and David Romer, presented at the July 2004 EFG meeting.
The fiscal foundations of monetary regimes
(paper, and powerpoint presentation) January 2003. The choice of monetary regime – interest rate rule, exchange rate peg, currency board, dollarization, etc. depends on fiscal constraints, especially for developing countries. Talk given at the 2003 NBER/NCAER Neemrana conference, India.
(paper, and powerpoint presentation) January 2003. The choice of monetary regime – interest rate rule, exchange rate peg, currency board, dollarization, etc. depends on fiscal constraints, especially for developing countries. Talk given at the 2003 NBER/NCAER Neemrana conference, India.
Stocks as Money: Convenience Yield and the Tech-Stock Bubble
May 2002. Published in William C. Hunter, George G. Kaufman and Michael Pomerleano, Eds., Asset Price Bubbles Cambridge: MIT Press 2003. The “arbitrage opportunity” in Palm vs. 3Com stock might be like the arbitrage opportunity between money and treasury bills. I document many similar features, including high turnover in the “overpriced” security. Presented at the Chicago Fed Conference on asset price bubbles, April 2002.
May 2002. Published in William C. Hunter, George G. Kaufman and Michael Pomerleano, Eds., Asset Price Bubbles Cambridge: MIT Press 2003. The “arbitrage opportunity” in Palm vs. 3Com stock might be like the arbitrage opportunity between money and treasury bills. I document many similar features, including high turnover in the “overpriced” security. Presented at the Chicago Fed Conference on asset price bubbles, April 2002.
The Fed and Interest Rates – a High Frequency Identification
American Economic Review 92 (2002), 90-95. With Monika Piazzesi (previously NBER WP 8839) . We measure monetary policy shocks by how they surprise daily bond markets. There's a beautiful Taylor rule in interest rate forecasts.
American Economic Review 92 (2002), 90-95. With Monika Piazzesi (previously NBER WP 8839) . We measure monetary policy shocks by how they surprise daily bond markets. There's a beautiful Taylor rule in interest rate forecasts.
Macroeconomics in Russia
In Economic Transition in Eastern Europe and Russia: Realities of Reform, Edward Lazear Ed., Hoover Institution Press, 1995. Imagine for a moment that the Federal Reserve imposed the following policies in the United States: Every company must pay for all its inputs before they are shipped, and taxes must also be prepaid. But there is no trade credit, and banks do not make working capital loans to purchase inputs. Checks take 90 days to clear… Chaos would result… This is roughly what happened in Russia during the summer of 1992. The story… points to the importance of macroeconomic policies, and the unintended macroeconomic effects of policy, in understanding developments in Russia and the Former Soviet Union. It also suggests that many macroeconomic problems are not inevitable consequences of the transition to a market economy, but rather that they are avoidable unintended effects of partial liberalizations.
In Economic Transition in Eastern Europe and Russia: Realities of Reform, Edward Lazear Ed., Hoover Institution Press, 1995. Imagine for a moment that the Federal Reserve imposed the following policies in the United States: Every company must pay for all its inputs before they are shipped, and taxes must also be prepaid. But there is no trade credit, and banks do not make working capital loans to purchase inputs. Checks take 90 days to clear… Chaos would result… This is roughly what happened in Russia during the summer of 1992. The story… points to the importance of macroeconomic policies, and the unintended macroeconomic effects of policy, in understanding developments in Russia and the Former Soviet Union. It also suggests that many macroeconomic problems are not inevitable consequences of the transition to a market economy, but rather that they are avoidable unintended effects of partial liberalizations.
Review of Famous First Bubbles: The Fundamentals of Early Manias
Journal of Political Economy 109, (October 2001),1150-1154. Review of the very nice book by Peter Garber, looking at the facts behind the tulip “bubble” and related myths. It turns out they are mythical. I had a lot of fun with this one.
Journal of Political Economy 109, (October 2001),1150-1154. Review of the very nice book by Peter Garber, looking at the facts behind the tulip “bubble” and related myths. It turns out they are mythical. I had a lot of fun with this one.