International Real Yields

Abstract

I study market-implied real yields extracted from prices of inflation-linked government bonds for nine developed countries. The liquidity premium is an important component of breakeven inflation rates. Unconditional real yield curves are upward-sloping, providing empirical support for habit models. The cross-country real rate equality is rejected. Across countries, real yields are strongly positively correlated while liquidity premia are moderately positively correlated. Low nominal yields following the Great Recession are mainly due to low real yields, although the inflation risk premia have also decreased.