very high savings rates in countries such as China, leading to central bank reserves commonly
invested almost exclusively in apparently risk-free or close to risk-free government bonds or
government guaranteed bonds. This in turn drove a reduction in real risk-free interest rates17
to historically low levels. In 1990 it was possible to invest in the US or UK in risk-free
index-linked government bonds at a yield to maturity of over 3% real; between 2004 and 2009
yield had been less than 2% and at times as low as 1%. These very low medium- and longterm
real interest rates in turn drove a ferocious search for yield to improve upon declining
risk-free rates.