What drives euro area break-even inflation rates?

Matteo Ciccarelli and Juan Angel García ()
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Juan Angel García: European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany., http://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html

No 996, Working Paper Series from European Central Bank

Abstract: The yield spread between nominal and inflation-linked bonds (or break-even inflation rates, BEIR) is a fundamental indicator of inflation expectations (and associated premia). This paper investigates which macroeconomic and financial variables explain BEIRs. We evaluate a large number of potential explanatory variables through Bayesian model selection techniques and document their explanatory power at different horizons. At short horizons, actual inflation dynamics is the main determinant of BEIRs. At long horizons, financial variables (i.e. term spread, bond market volatility) become increasingly relevant, but confidence and cyclical indicators remain important. JEL Classification: C11, C52, E31.

Keywords: Break-even inflation rates; inflation risk premia; business cycle indicators; Bayesian model selection. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-eec, nep-mac and nep-mon
Date: 2009-01
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20090996

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