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Abstract

This paper estimates both parametric and non-parametric proportional hazards models for a subset of Canadian mortgage-backed security data. The estimated parametric hazard function is then used to drive exogenous prepayments within an arbitrage-free model of the term structure of interest rates. Theoretical prices as well as option-adjusted spreads (OAS) are obtained for three different mortgage-backed securities using a Monte-Carlo simulation. Though no formal test is done to compare the ability of the different hazard models to explain observed market prices, the non-parametric baseline hazard is more consistent with the age-dependent prepayment provisions typical of most mortgage contracts in Canada.