1. Knowing what the components of the 3-month Treasury bill are, what could explain the large variation in the 3-month risk-free rate over different time periods?
2. Contrast the yield curves data of March 1993 and March 1998. Notice that the 1998 yield curve is almost flat, it has very little slope, while the 1993 yield curve has a very steep slope. What could account for this difference in slopes?
3. Contrast the yield curves data of March 2002 and December 2008. What could account for this difference? What does the March 2002 yield curve say about long-term versus short-term interest rates? What does the 2008 yield curve say about long-term versus short-term interest rates?
4. Contrast the slopes of the March 2002 yield curve with that of March 2019. What do we call a yield curve that possesses the shape of the March 2019 yield curve? Why might the March 2019 yield curve be downward sloping? What does this indicate?
5. Compare interest rates of December 2008 yield curve with that of March 2020. What does this indicate?