IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/16411.html

Fiscal and monetary policy interactions in a low interest rate world

Author

Listed:
  • Orphanides, Athanasios
  • Hofmann, Boris
  • Lombardi, Marco
  • Mojon, Benoit

Abstract

We analyse fiscal and monetary policy interactions when interest rate policy is hampered by the zero lower bound (ZLB) in an environment where expectations are formed with perpetual learning. The ZLB induces a deterioration of economic performance and raises the risk of persistent lowflation that can disanchor inflation expectations and lead to debt deflation. Systematic use of quantitative easing (QE) can partially substitute for interest rate easing and, if sufficiently aggressive, can maintain average inflation in line with the central bank's goal. By compressing term premia on long-term interest rates, QE creates fiscal space that facilitates expansionary fiscal policy and reduces debt-deflation risk. The ZLB can be counteracted with less aggressive QE if mildly negative policy rates are feasible, if more countercyclical fiscal policy can be activated, or if the central bank can credibly communicate a clear inflation goal. Timidity in implementing QE and excessively debt-averse fiscal policies are counterproductive.

Suggested Citation

  • Orphanides, Athanasios & Hofmann, Boris & Lombardi, Marco & Mojon, Benoit, 2021. "Fiscal and monetary policy interactions in a low interest rate world," CEPR Discussion Papers 16411, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:16411
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP16411
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Athanasios Orphanides, 2021. "The Power of Central Bank Balance Sheets," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 39, pages 35-54, November.
    3. Chadha, Jagjit S. & Corrado, Luisa & Meaning, Jack & Schuler, Tobias, 2021. "Monetary and fiscal complementarity in the Covid-19 pandemic," Working Paper Series 2588, European Central Bank.
    4. Swapan-Kumar Pradhan & Elod Takats & Judit Temesvary, 2024. "How does fiscal policy affect the transmission of monetary policy into cross-border bank lending? Cross-country evidence," BIS Working Papers 1226, Bank for International Settlements.
    5. Mahmoud Hachem, 2023. "The Interaction between Policy Mix in Lebanon: Applications of the Nonlinear and Linear ARDL Models," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 13(2), pages 27-45, March.
    6. Swapan-Kumar Pradhan & Viktors Stebunovs & Előd Takáts & Judit Temesvary, 2025. "Geopolitics Meets Monetary Policy: Decoding Their Impact on Cross-Border Bank Lending," International Finance Discussion Papers 1403, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    7. Mao, Ruoyun & Shen, Wenyi & Yang, Shu-Chun S., 2024. "Can passive monetary policy decrease the debt burden?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    8. Oriola, Hugo, 2023. "Political monetary cycles: An empirical study," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Pierre L Siklos, 2022. "Monetary, fiscal and demographic interactions in Japan: impact and a comparative assessment," Working Papers halshs-03776217, HAL.
    10. Hugo Oriola & Matthieu Picault, 2023. "Opportunistic Political Central Bank Coverage: Does media coverage of ECB's Monetary Policy Impacts German Political Parties' Popularity?," Working Papers hal-04273091, HAL.
    11. Benjamin Musiita & Frederick Nsambu Kijjambu & Asaph Kaburura Katarangi, 2024. "Factor Input Prices and Unemployment in Uganda," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 16(1), pages 52-66.
    12. Ahmed, Rashad & Borio, Claudio & Disyatat, Piti & Hofmann, Boris, 2024. "Losing traction? The real effects of monetary policy when interest rates are low," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    13. Centinaio, Alessandra & Pacicco, Fausto & Serati, Massimiliano & Venegoni, Andrea, 2024. "Government decisions and macroeconomic stability: Fiscal policies and financial market fluctuations," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    14. Dubravko Mihaljek, 2021. "Interactions between fiscal and monetary policies: a brief history of a long relationship," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 45(4), pages 419-432.
    15. Hugo Oriola, 2023. "Political monetary cycles: An empirical study," Post-Print hal-04648377, HAL.
    16. Enrique Alberola-Ila & Gong Cheng & Andrea Consiglio & Stavros A. Zenios, 2022. "Debt sustainability and monetary policy: the case of ECB asset purchases," BIS Working Papers 1034, Bank for International Settlements.
    17. Pongpitch Amatyakul & Tosapol Apaitan & Savaphol Hiruntiaranakul & Nuwat Nookhwun, 2021. "Revisiting Thailand's Monetary Policy Model for an Integrated Policy Analysis," PIER Discussion Papers 164, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    18. Jung, Alexander & Mongelli, Francesco Paolo, 2025. "Central bank communication with non-experts: insights from a randomized field experiment," Working Paper Series 3103, European Central Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization; Treasury Policy

    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:cpr:ceprdp:16411. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    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.