Abstract
Longstaff [Longstaff, F., 2000. The term structure of very short-term rates: new evidence for the expectations hypothesis. Journal of Financial Economics 58, 397-415] finds support for the expectations hypothesis at the very short end of the repurchase agreement (repo) term structure while other studies find calendar-time-based regularities cause rejection of the expectations hypothesis. Using Longstaff's methods on a sample of repo rates that pre-dates Longstaff's sample, we reject the expectations hypothesis for every maturity. The pre-Longstaff-sample repo data comes from a time period where the behavior of short-term interest rates is similar to the long-run average behavior of short-term interest rates. Our results imply that expectations hold when rates are less volatile and/or that we may be entering a period of lower volatility.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 600-613 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Journal of Banking and Finance |
Volume | 32 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2008 |
Keywords
- Expectations hypothesis
- Repurchase agreements
- Term structure