IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zur/econwp/372.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On the negatives of negative interest rates and the positives of exemption thresholds

Author

Listed:
  • Aleksander Berentsen
  • Hugo van Buggenum
  • Romina Ruprecht

Abstract

Major central banks remunerate reserves at negative interest rates and it is increasingly likely that they will keep rates negative for many more years. To study the long run implications of negative rates, we construct a dynamic general equilibrium model with commercial banks funding investment projects and a central bank issuing reserves. Negative rates distort investment decisions resulting in lower output and welfare. These findings sharply contrast the short-run expansionary effects ascribed to negative rate policies by most of the existing literature. Negative rates also reduce commercial bank profitability. Exempting a fraction of reserves from negative rates can resolve profitability concerns without affecting the central bank's ability to control the money market rate. However, exemption thresholds do no mitigate the investment distortions created by negative rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Aleksander Berentsen & Hugo van Buggenum & Romina Ruprecht, 2020. "On the negatives of negative interest rates and the positives of exemption thresholds," ECON - Working Papers 372, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:zur:econwp:372
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econ.uzh.ch/apps/workingpapers/wp/econwp372.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gara Afonso & Ricardo Lagos, 2015. "Trade Dynamics in the Market for Federal Funds," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 263-313, January.
    2. Boeckx, Jef & de Sola Perea, Maite & Peersman, Gert, 2020. "The transmission mechanism of credit support policies in the euro area," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    3. Lemke, Wolfgang & Vladu, Andreea L., 2016. "Below the zero lower bound: A shadow-rate term structure model for the euro area," Discussion Papers 32/2016, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    4. Michael Boutros & Jonathan Witmer, 2017. "Monetary Policy Implementation in a Negative Rate Environment," Staff Working Papers 17-25, Bank of Canada.
    5. Mauricio Ulate, 2021. "Going Negative at the Zero Lower Bound: The Effects of Negative Nominal Interest Rates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(1), pages 1-40, January.
    6. Florian Heider & Farzad Saidi & Glenn Schepens, 2019. "Life below Zero: Bank Lending under Negative Policy Rates," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(10), pages 3728-3761.
    7. Christoph Basten & Mike Mariathasan, 2018. "How Banks Respond to Negative Interest Rates: Evidence from the Swiss Exemption Threshold," CESifo Working Paper Series 6901, CESifo.
    8. Joseph Abadi & Markus Brunnermeier & Yann Koby, 2023. "The Reversal Interest Rate," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(8), pages 2084-2120, August.
    9. Bottero, Margherita & Minoiu, Camelia & Peydró, José-Luis & Polo, Andrea & Presbitero, Andrea F. & Sette, Enrico, 2022. "Expansionary yet different: Credit supply and real effects of negative interest rate policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 754-778.
    10. Altavilla, Carlo & Burlon, Lorenzo & Giannetti, Mariassunta & Holton, Sarah, 2022. "Is there a zero lower bound? The effects of negative policy rates on banks and firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(3), pages 885-907.
    11. Ms. Rima A Turk, 2016. "Negative Interest Rates: How Big a Challenge for Large Danish and Swedish Banks?," IMF Working Papers 2016/198, International Monetary Fund.
    12. Tan Schelling & Dr. Pascal Towbin, 2020. "Negative interest rates, deposit funding and bank lending," Working Papers 2020-05, Swiss National Bank.
    13. Aleksander Berentsen & Alessandro Marchesiani & Christopher Waller, 2014. "Floor Systems for Implementing Monetary Policy: Some Unpleasant Fiscal Arithmetic," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 17(3), pages 523-542, July.
    14. William Poole, 1968. "Commercial Bank Reserve Management In A Stochastic Model: Implications For Monetary Policy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(5), pages 769-791, December.
    15. Berentsen, Aleksander & Kraenzlin, Sébastien & Müller, Benjamin, 2018. "Exit strategies for monetary policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 20-40.
    16. Gauti B. Eggertsson & Ragnar E. Juelsrud & Lawrence H. Summers & Ella Getz Wold, 2019. "Negative nominal interest rates and the bank lending channel," Working Paper 2019/4, Norges Bank.
    17. Berentsen, Aleksander & Monnet, Cyril, 2008. "Monetary policy in a channel system," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 1067-1080, September.
    18. James J. McAndrews, 2015. "Negative nominal central bank policy rates: where is the lower bound?," Speech 168, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    19. Amzallag, Adrien & Calza, Alessandro & Georgarakos, Dimitris & Sousa, João, 2019. "Monetary policy transmission to mortgages in a negative interest rate environment," Working Paper Series 2243, European Central Bank.
    20. Demiralp, Selva & Eisenschmidt, Jens & Vlassopoulos, Thomas, 2021. "Negative interest rates, excess liquidity and retail deposits: Banks’ reaction to unconventional monetary policy in the euro area," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    21. Basten, Christoph & Mariathasan, Mike, 2023. "Interest rate pass-through and bank risk-taking under negative-rate policies with tiered remuneration of central bank reserves," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    22. Bech, Morten & Monnet, Cyril, 2016. "A search-based model of the interbank money market and monetary policy implementation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 32-67.
    23. Andreas Jobst & Ms. Huidan Huidan Lin, 2016. "Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP): Implications for Monetary Transmission and Bank Profitability in the Euro Area," IMF Working Papers 2016/172, International Monetary Fund.
    24. Whitesell, William, 2006. "Interest rate corridors and reserves," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 1177-1195, September.
    25. Dr. Christian Grisse & Dr. Silvio Schumacher, 2017. "The response of long-term yields to negative interest rates: evidence from Switzerland," Working Papers 2017-10, Swiss National Bank.
    26. Ruchir Agarwal & Miles Kimball, 2019. "Enabling Deep Negative Rates to Fight Recessions: A Guide," IMF Working Papers 2019/084, International Monetary Fund.
    27. Christian Grisse & Signe Krogstrup & Silvio Schumacher, 2017. "Lower-Bound Beliefs and Long-Term Interest Rates," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 13(3), pages 165-202, September.
    28. Feng Dong & Yi Wen, 2017. "Optimal Monetary Policy under Negative Interest Rate," Working Papers 2017-19, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    29. Harriet Jackson, 2015. "The International Experience with Negative Policy Rates," Discussion Papers 15-13, Bank of Canada.
    30. Morten Linnemann Bech & Aytek Malkhozov, 2016. "How have central banks implemented negative policy rates?," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, March.
    31. Furfine, Craig H., 2000. "Interbank payments and the daily federal funds rate," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 535-553, October.
    32. Michael Boutros & Jonathan Witmer, 2020. "Monetary Policy Implementation in a Negative Rate Environment," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(2-3), pages 441-470, March.
    33. Jens Eisenschmidt & Frank Smets, 2019. "Negative Interest Rates: Lessons from the Euro Area," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Álvaro Aguirre & Markus Brunnermeier & Diego Saravia (ed.),Monetary Policy and Financial Stability: Transmission Mechanisms and Policy Implications, edition 1, volume 26, chapter 2, pages 013-042, Central Bank of Chile.
    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. Lukas Altermatt, 2022. "Inside Money, Investment, And Unconventional Monetary Policy," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1527-1560, November.
    2. Romina Ruprecht, 2020. "Negative interest rates, capital flows and exchange rates," ECON - Working Papers 351, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    3. Dr. Lucas Marc Fuhrer & Dr. Matthias Jüttner & Jan Wrampelmeyer & Matthias Zwicker, 2021. "Reserve tiering and the interbank market," Working Papers 2021-17, Swiss National Bank.
    4. Grandi, Pietro & Guille, Marianne, 2023. "Banks, deposit rigidity and negative rates," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    5. Assenmacher, Katrin & Berentsen, Aleksander & Brand, Claus & Lamersdorf, Nora, 2021. "A unified framework for CBDC design: remuneration, collateral haircuts and quantity constraints," Working Paper Series 2578, European Central Bank.
    6. Schelling, Tan & Towbin, Pascal, 2021. "Tiers of Joy? Reserve Tiering and Bank Behavior in a Negative-Rate Environment," CEPR Discussion Papers 16191, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    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. Aleksander Berentsen & Romina Ruprecht & Hugo van Buggenum, 2023. "On the Negatives of Negative Interest Rates," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2023-064, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Romina Ruprecht, 2020. "Negative interest rates, capital flows and exchange rates," ECON - Working Papers 351, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    3. Bottero, Margherita & Minoiu, Camelia & Peydró, José-Luis & Polo, Andrea & Presbitero, Andrea F. & Sette, Enrico, 2022. "Expansionary yet different: Credit supply and real effects of negative interest rate policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 754-778.
    4. Cynthia Balloch & Yann Koby & Mauricio Ulate, 2022. "Making Sense of Negative Nominal Interest Rates," Working Paper Series 2022-12, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    5. Grandi, Pietro & Guille, Marianne, 2023. "Banks, deposit rigidity and negative rates," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    6. Demiralp, Selva & Eisenschmidt, Jens & Vlassopoulos, Thomas, 2021. "Negative interest rates, excess liquidity and retail deposits: Banks’ reaction to unconventional monetary policy in the euro area," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    7. Schelling, Tan & Towbin, Pascal, 2021. "Tiers of Joy? Reserve Tiering and Bank Behavior in a Negative-Rate Environment," CEPR Discussion Papers 16191, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Mattia Girotti & Guillaume Horny & Jean-Guillaume Sahuc, 2022. "Lost in Negative Territory? Search for Yield!," EconomiX Working Papers 2022-10, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    9. Bats, Joost V. & Giuliodori, Massimo & Houben, Aerdt C.F.J., 2023. "Monetary policy effects in times of negative interest rates: What do bank stock prices tell us?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    10. Schelling, Tan & Towbin, Pascal, 2022. "What lies beneath—Negative interest rates and bank lending," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    11. Dr. Lucas Marc Fuhrer & Dr. Matthias Jüttner & Jan Wrampelmeyer & Matthias Zwicker, 2021. "Reserve tiering and the interbank market," Working Papers 2021-17, Swiss National Bank.
    12. Mauricio Ulate, 2021. "Alternative Models of Interest Rate Pass-Through in Normal and Negative Territory," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 17(1), pages 3-34, March.
    13. Dr. Romain Baeriswyl & Dr. Lucas Marc Fuhrer & Dr. Petra Gerlach & Dr. Jörn Tenhofen, 2021. "The dynamics of bank rates in a negative-rate environment - the Swiss case," Working Papers 2021-05, Swiss National Bank.
    14. policy, Work stream on macroprudential & Albertazzi, Ugo & Martin, Alberto & Assouan, Emmanuelle & Tristani, Oreste & Galati, Gabriele & Vlassopoulos, Thomas, 2021. "The role of financial stability considerations in monetary policy and the interaction with macroprudential policy in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 272, European Central Bank.
    15. Marcel Barmeier, 2022. "The new normal: bank lending and negative interest rates in Austria (Marcel Barmeier)," Working Papers 242, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    16. Bubeck, Johannes & Maddaloni, Angela & Peydró, José-Luis, 2020. "Negative Monetary Policy Rates and Systemic Banks' Risk‐Taking: Evidence from the Euro Area Securities Register," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 52(S1), pages 197-231.
    17. Bongiovanni, Alessio & Reghezza, Alessio & Santamaria, Riccardo & Williams, Jonathan, 2021. "Do negative interest rates affect bank risk-taking?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 350-364.
    18. Boungou, Whelsy & Hubert, Paul, 2021. "The channels of banks’ response to negative interest rates," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    19. Present, Thomas & Simoens, Mathieu & Vander Vennet, Rudi, 2023. "European bank margins at the zero lower bound," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    20. Grahame Johnson & Sharon Kozicki & Romanos Priftis & Lena Suchanek & Jonathan Witmer & Jing Yang, 2020. "Implementation and Effectiveness of Extended Monetary Policy Tools: Lessons from the Literature," Discussion Papers 2020-16, Bank of Canada.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Negative interest rate; money market; monetary policy; interest rates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E40 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - General
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E43 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies

    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:zur:econwp:372. 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: Severin Oswald (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/seizhch.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.