Abstract: We show how to construct arbitrage-free models of
he term structure of interest rates in which various expectations
hypotheses can hold. McCulloch (1993) provided a Gaussian
non-Markovian example of the unbiased expectations hypothesis (U--EH),
thereby contradicting the assertion by Cox, Ingersoll, and Ross (CIR,
1981) that only the so-called local expectations hypothesis could
hold. We generalize that example in three ways: (i) We characterize
the U--EH in terms of forward rates; (ii) we extend this
characterization to a class of expectations hypotheses that includes
all of those considered by CIR; and (iii) we construct stationary
Markovian and non-Gaussian economies. The building block is a
maturity-dependent vector that travels around a circle at a constant
speed as maturity increases.
Keywords: Expectations hypothesis, yield curve, arbitrage
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