Monday, 9 February 2009

Japan and the zero rate bound




Here are the two graphs from today's lecture. The bottom one is the inflation rate, the salient point being that is has been negative, i.e., deflation, for quite a lot of the past 10 years. The top one shows the Bank of Japan's interest rate, which has hit zero (recall that a negative nominal interest rate isn't possible as people would be better off holding cash under their mattresses if necessary). Even at a zero nominal interest rate, negative expected inflation means that the real rate of interest is positive.


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