IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/wpceem/hal-02086234.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A world of low interest rates

Author

Listed:
  • Claude Bismut

    (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier)

  • Ismael Ramajo

    (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier)

Abstract

The interest rates have remained low in recent years, after long decline over the past thirty-five years in OECD countries. This evolution is associated to a slowdown of output growth, while inflation stabilized around its two percent target. In trying to provide a better understanding on how we got there, we review the macroeconomic developments during almost sixty years. Conventional analysis of the role of macroeconomic policy does not provide a satisfactory explanation of the observed long-term trends. In particular, large fiscal deficits and growing debt ratios did not lead to higher interest rates, except in a few countries, whose governments were facing serious fiscal troubles. Conservative monetary policy can explain the low level of inflation that have prevailed since the middle of the eighties, but not the continuous decline of the real interest rate. Based on a few stylized facts we suggest a direction for a plausible characterization of a low growth / low interest rate regime

Suggested Citation

  • Claude Bismut & Ismael Ramajo, 2019. "A world of low interest rates," CEE-M Working Papers hal-02086234, CEE-M, Universtiy of Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpceem:hal-02086234
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02086234
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-02086234/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Corsetti, Giancarlo & Roubini, Nouriel, 1991. "Fiscal deficits, public debt, and government solvency: Evidence from OECD countries," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 354-380, December.
    2. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2014. "This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 15(2), pages 215-268, November.
    3. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2010. "Growth in a Time of Debt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 573-578, May.
    4. G. M.P. Swann, 2009. "The Economics of Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13211.
    5. Mervyn King & David Low, 2014. "Measuring the ''World'' Real Interest Rate," NBER Working Papers 19887, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. David Haugh & Patrice Ollivaud & David Turner, 2009. "What Drives Sovereign Risk Premiums?: An Analysis of Recent Evidence from the Euro Area," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 718, OECD Publishing.
    7. Rogoff, Kenneth, 2017. "Monetary policy in a low interest rate world," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 673-679.
    8. Mr. Domenico Fanizza & Mr. Vito Tanzi, 1995. "Fiscal Deficit and Public Debt in Industrial Countries, 1970-1994," IMF Working Papers 1995/049, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Robert J. Gordon, 2012. "Is U.S. Economic Growth Over? Faltering Innovation Confronts the Six Headwinds," NBER Working Papers 18315, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Claude Bismut & Ismael Ramajo, 2019. "Nominal and real interest rates in OECD countries," CEE-M Working Papers hal-02355139, CEE-M, Universtiy of Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro.
    2. Claude Bismut & Ismael Ramajo, 2019. "Nominal and real interest rates in OECD countries," Working Papers hal-02355139, HAL.
    3. Claude Bismut & Ismaël Ramajo, 2021. "Nominal and real interest rates in OECD countries, changes in sight after covid-19?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 493-516, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Claude Bismut & Ismael Ramajo, 2019. "A world of low interest rates," Working Papers hal-02086234, HAL.
    2. Claude Bismut & Ismael Ramajo, 2019. "Nominal and real interest rates in OECD countries," Working Papers hal-02355139, HAL.
    3. Claude Bismut & Ismael Ramajo, 2019. "Nominal and real interest rates in OECD countries," CEE-M Working Papers hal-02355139, CEE-M, Universtiy of Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro.
    4. Atif Mian & Ludwig Straub & Amir Sufi, 2021. "Indebted Demand," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(4), pages 2243-2307.
    5. repec:ecb:ecbops:2014165 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Dieppe, Alistair & Mourinho Félix, Ricardo & Marchiori, Luca & Grech, Owen & Albani, Maria & Lalouette, Laure & Kulikov, Dmitry & Papadopoulou, Niki & Sideris, Dimitris & Irac, Delphine & Gordo Mora, , 2015. "Public debt, population ageing and medium-term growth," Occasional Paper Series 165, European Central Bank.
    7. Gergely Hudecz, 2017. "Secular Stagnation: What the Debate is about?," Society and Economy, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 39(1), pages 125-140, March.
    8. Claude Bismut & Ismaël Ramajo, 2021. "Nominal and real interest rates in OECD countries, changes in sight after covid-19?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 493-516, July.
    9. Manuel Funke & Moritz Schularick & Christoph Trebesch, 2023. "Populist Leaders and the Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(12), pages 3249-3288, December.
    10. Janice Boucher Breuer & John McDermott, 2019. "Debt And Depression," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(4), pages 714-730, October.
    11. Jack Bekooij & Jon Frost & Remco van der Molen & Krzysztof Muzalewski, 2016. "Hazardous tango: Sovereign-bank interdependencies across countries and time," DNB Working Papers 541, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    12. Aghion, Philippe & Akcigit, Ufuk & Howitt, Peter, 2014. "What Do We Learn From Schumpeterian Growth Theory?," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 515-563, Elsevier.
    13. Guerini, Mattia & Moneta, Alessio & Napoletano, Mauro & Roventini, Andrea, 2020. "The Janus-Faced Nature Of Debt: Results From A Data-Driven Cointegrated Svar Approach," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 24-54, January.
    14. Antonio Afonso & Jose Alves, 2015. "The Role of Government Debt in Economic Growth," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 215(4), pages 9-26, December.
    15. Chung‐Hua Shen & Hsing‐Hua Hsu, 2022. "The determinants of Asian banking crises—Application of the panel threshold logit model," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 248-277, March.
    16. Mitze, Timo & Matz, Florian, 2015. "Public debt and growth in German federal states: What can Europe learn?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 208-228.
    17. Sergio Cesaratto, 2012. "Controversial and novel features of the Eurozone crisis as a balance of payment crisis," Department of Economics University of Siena 640, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    18. Gabriella Legrenzi & Costas Milas, 2012. "Long-Run Debt Sustainability and Threshold Adjustments: Non-Linear Empirical Evidence from the GIIPS," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(3), pages 2586-2593.
    19. Kazakova, Maria & Nesterova, Kristina, 2015. "Long-Term Forecast of the Main Parameters of the Budgetary System of Russia," Published Papers 2309, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    20. Reinhart, Carmen M. & Reinhart, Vincent & Rogoff, Kenneth, 2015. "Dealing with debt," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(S1), pages 43-55.
    21. Carranza-Ugarte, Luis & Díaz-Saavedra, Julián & Galdon-Sanchez, Jose Enrique, 2023. "Rethinking fiscal rules," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 833-857.
      • Luis Carranza Ugarte & Julian Diaz Saavedra & Jose Enrique Galdon-Sanchez, 2021. "Rethinking fiscal rules," ThE Papers 21/14, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..

    More about this item

    Keywords

    interest rates; growth; inflation; macroeconomics; long term; public debt; fiscal policy; monetary policy;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:wpceem:hal-02086234. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Laurent Garnier (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lamplfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.