Zombie lending

Negative Nominal Interest Rates: A Primer

Many people find negative interest rates confusing. Why should anyone pay a bank to make a deposit? Why should a bank pay someone to borrow? How can we value an asset with a future cash flow when the interest rate is negative?

Policymakers also wonder whether the effects of negative interest rates on the economy are favorable or unfavorable. Do negative interest rates help central banks achieve price stability by stimulating economic activity? Do negative rates spur banks to make more good loans or to evergreen bad ones? Will borrowers and banks take on too much risk because they can fund investments at a negative rate? Will households reduce their saving rate because the return is so low, or raise it because low returns leave them farther from their wealth target? Will negative rates influence the ability of pension funds, insurance companies and governments to make good on their long-term promises to future retirees?

In this primer, we examine these questions, starting with key facts about negative nominal interest rates. Our conclusion: there is little magic about having a slightly negative, as opposed to slightly positive interest rates. Thus, much of the criticism of persistently negative nominal interest rates applies similarly to very low, but positive rates. That said, financial system frictions limit the favorable impact from modestly negative nominal rates, but our experience with them remains limited. Given the likely need for unconventional policy tools to address the next recession, learning more about the benefits and costs of negative nominal interest rates is a high priority….

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Better capitalized banks lend more and lend better

Many people seem to think that when authorities increase capital requirements, banks lend less. The advocates of this view go on to argue that, since credit is essential for economic growth, we should not impose overly tough constraints on banks. Put another way, a number of people believe that we have gone too far in making the financial system safe and the cost is lower growth and employment.

Treasury Secretary-designate Steven Mnuchin appears to share the view that financial regulation has restrained the supply of credit: in a recent interview, he is quoted as saying “The number one problem with Dodd-Frank is that it’s way too complicated and cuts back lending.” One interpretation of this is that Secretary-designate Mnuchin will support proposals like House Financial Services Chair Jeb Hensarling’s Financial CHOICE Act to allow banks to opt for a simple capital standard as an alternative to strict regulatory scrutiny.

Our reaction to this is three-fold. First, for most banks, which are very small and pose little threat to the financial system, a shift toward simpler capital requirements—so long as they are high enough—may be both effective and efficient; for the largest, most systemic intermediaries, higher capital requirements should still be accompanied by strict oversight. Second, we see no evidence that higher bank capital is associated with lower lending. In fact, quite the opposite. Third, given that the 2007-09 financial crisis was the result of too much borrowing—and that over-borrowing is a leading indicator of financial crises—it follows that not all reductions in lending are bad. We take each of these points in turn...


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