To be added.] ∗This is a revision of the text delivered by the second author as the Jacob Marschak Lecture at the 2001 Far Eastern Meeting of the Econometric Society, Kobe, Japan, July 21, 2001. We thank Julio Rotemberg and Lars Svensson for helpful discussions, and the National Science Foundation, through a grant to the NBER, for research support. Views expressed are those of the authors and d...

A growing empirical and theoretical literature argues in favor of specifying monetary policy in the form of Taylor-type interest rate feedback rules. That is, rules whereby the nominal interest rate is set as an increasing function of inflation with a slope greater than one around an intended inflation target. This paper shows that because of the zero bound on nominal interest rates, such rules...

The stock versus flow effect of the federal debt/deficit on a real interest rate is examined in a reduced-form equation. The evidence shows a positive and significant linkage between the federal debt and an ex-post, taxadjusted, short-term, real interest rate.

Spot Rate Models 3 Equivalent Martingale Measure (Reference Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Spot Rate Models: Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Bond Price Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Inversion of the Yield Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Affine Term Structure Mo...

one of the present phenomena that virtually explain weaknesses in financial systems of different countries is financial repression. financial repression encompasses the different interferences of governments in financial markets through determining the ceiling interest on bank deposits, high rates of legal reserves, and the government’s interference in distribution of bank credits,which prevent...