Average market risk premium in the U.S. 2011-2023
What causes country-specific risk?
Risk to investments come from two main sources. First, inflation causes an asset’s price to decrease in real terms. A 100 U.S. dollar investment with three percent inflation is only worth 97 U.S. dollars after one year. Investors are also interested in risks of project failure or non-performing loans.
The unique U.S. context
Analysts have historically considered the United States Treasury to be risk-free. This view has been shifting, but many advisors continue to use treasury yield rates as a risk-free rate. Given the fact that U.S. government securities are available at a variety of terms, this gives investment managers a range of tools for predicting future market developments.