How Well Do Constant Maturity Treasuries Approximate the On-the-Run Term Structure

21 Pages Posted: 30 Nov 2001

See all articles by Sattar Mansi

Sattar Mansi

Virginia Tech

James V. Jordan

National Economic Research Associates

Date Written: April 2000

Abstract

The on-the-run term structure is generally estimated from yields on securities that sell at or near their par values. These yields can be obtained either from market data or from published estimates of par yields, known as constant maturity Treasury yields. The purpose of this research is to compare and contrast the use of constant maturity yields as an alternative to actual yields observed in the Treasury market. Based on a sample of month-end data covering the period January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1997, we find that constant maturity Treasury yields provide a significantly larger pricing error in term structure estimation than market Treasury yields both in-sample and out-of-sample. The results also suggest that the Department of Treasury can improve its estimation of constant maturity yields by using a continuous bootstrapping methodology based on an assumed functional form (e.g., Nelson and Siegel (1987)).

Keywords: Term structure of interest rates; On-the-run Treasuries; Constant maturity series; Valuation

JEL Classification: D4; E4; G1; N2

Suggested Citation

Mansi, Sattar and Jordan, James V., How Well Do Constant Maturity Treasuries Approximate the On-the-Run Term Structure (April 2000). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=291689 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.291689

Sattar Mansi

Virginia Tech ( email )

James V. Jordan (Contact Author)

National Economic Research Associates ( email )

1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20037
United States
202-466-9263 (Phone)

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