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Conceptually, the long-term interest rate or LTR, for example 10 years, has three components. First, the real short-term rate expected by market participants as an average for the next ten years (RESTR). Second, the long-term inflation expectations, at 10 years, of these participants (LTIE). And third, the term risk premium (TRP) demanded to invest in bonds with long maturities rather than successively investing in short-term bonds. When the central bank modifies the official short-term rate (or announces its strategy and monetary policy plans), each of these three components is likely to move either upwards or downwards, obviously also depending on other forces or shocks. While the Fed was tightening up its monetary policy in 1988, 1994 and 1999, the LTR rose noticeably, pushed up both by the RESTR (because market participants took the Fed's message on board that it was willing and able to maintain a higher level for the short-term rate) as well as the TRP (given the greater uncertainty regarding the level and volatility of short-term rates in the near future). The LTIE component would have moved downwards (as the Fed was committed to combating inflation) but with less impact due to the anchoring of expectations since credible inflation targets had been set.
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