An article in the December 1983 Bulletin showed how real short-term rates of interest had changed since the mid-1950s in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. This note updates and enlarges on that article: the first section discusses the measurement of real interest rates; the second considers how real short-term rates of interest have changed in the three countries mentioned since 1983; the final section presents estimates of recent trends in real medium-term rates of interest.
Recent trends in real interest rates