General Bayesian time-varying parameter vector autoregressions for modeling government bond yields

Author(s)
Manfred M. Fischer, Niko Hauzenberger, Florian Huber, Michael Pfarrhofer
Abstract

US yield curve dynamics are subject to time-variation, but there is ambiguity about its precise form. This paper develops a vector autoregressive (VAR) model with time-varying parameters and stochastic volatility, which treats the nature of parameter dynamics as unknown. Coefficients can evolve according to a random walk, a Markov switching process, observed predictors, or depend on a mixture of these. To decide which form is supported by the data and to carry out model selection, we adopt Bayesian shrinkage priors. Our framework is applied to model the US yield curve. We show that the model forecasts well, and focus on selected in-sample features to analyze determinants of structural breaks in US yield curve dynamics.

Organisation(s)
Department of Economics
External organisation(s)
Paris-Lodron Universität Salzburg, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (WU)
Journal
Journal of Applied Econometrics
Volume
38
Pages
69-87
No. of pages
19
ISSN
0883-7252
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/jae.2936
Publication date
09-2022
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
502025 Econometrics, 502018 Macroeconomics
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Economics and Econometrics, Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/a9090b22-3f3e-41ff-9326-e89025a0a19f