Veronica Cacdac Warnock

International Capital Flows and U.S. Interest Rates

Foreign official purchases of U.S. government bonds have an economically large and statistically significant impact on long-term interest rates. Federal Reserve credibility, as evidenced by dramatic reductions in both long-term inflation expectations and the volatility of long rates, contributed much to the decline of long rates in the 1990s. More recently, however, foreign flows have become important. Controlling for various factors given by a standard macroeconomic model, we estimate that had there been no foreign official flows into U.S. government bonds over the past year, the 10-year Treasury yield would currently be 90 basis points higher. Our results are robust to a number of alternative specifications.

International capital flows and U.S. interest rates

Abstract Foreign purchases of U.S. government bonds have an economically large and statistically significant impact on long-term interest rates. While the dramatic reductions in both long-term inflation expectations and the volatility of long rates contributed much to the decline of long rates in the 1990s, more recently foreign flows have become important. Controlling for various factors, we estimate that absent the substantial foreign inflows into U.S. government bonds the 10-year Treasury yield would be 80 basis points higher. Our results are robust to a number of alternative specifications.

The Declining Volatility Of U.S. Employment: Was Arthur Burns Right?

This paper attempts to add to the understanding of changes in the magnitude of business cycle fluctuations by examining disaggregated employment data. Specifically, we use a stochastic variance approach on monthly employment data for the 1946-1996 period to highlight two stylized facts of aggregate U.S. employment - greater volatility in recessions than expansions and reduced volatility since the early 1980s. These patterns are not, however, apparent in each sector of the economy. Asymmetric volatility is only evident in manufacturing and trade; other sectors, such as construction or the narrowly defined services sector, are just as likely to exhibit high volatility in expansions. A general reduction in volatility is evident only in goods-producing sectors; some industries in the broad service-producing sector have become more volatile over time. Our results highlight the close relationship between aggregate and manufacturing volatility, and suggest that to understand why the U.S. business cycle has become more muted, researchers should strive to understand the forces at work that are reducing volatility in the manufacturing sector.

Mortgage Market Functioning

Mortgage markets support the provision of housing by channelling savers’ surplus funds to households who need loans to finance the purchase of a home. How well mortgage finance systems function relates to a number of factors, including (but not limited to) the availability of funds for lending and the ability of lenders to mitigate information asymmetries and interest rate, liquidity and credit risks. Each of these depends, in turn, on the legal-regulatory infrastructure. In addition to these fundamentally important factors, macroeconomic stability is a necessary precondition for the development of mortgage markets.