Price discovery in US money market benchmarks: LIBOR vs. SOFR

Abstract

This note evaluates the price discovery contribution of the chosen successor to LIBOR in the US, i.e., the Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR), using well-established methodologies in the empirical literature. Even though the transition away from LIBOR is supposed to enhance the transparency of benchmark rates, we show that LIBOR still dominates, albeit at a declining pace, the price discovery process in the US money market interest rates. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.