The real risk-free rate of interest may be thought of as the interest rate on 23). U.S. Treasury securities in an inflation-free world. A Treasury Inflation Protected Security (TIPS) is free of most risks, and its value increases with inflation. Short-term TIPS are free of default, maturity, and liquidity risks and of risk due to changes in the general level of interest rates. However, they are not free of changes in the real rate. Our definition of the risk-free rate assumes that, despite the recent downgrade, Treasury securities have no meaningful 24). risk