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Negative nominal interest rates: history and current proposals

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  • Cordelius Ilgmann
  • Martin Menner

Abstract

Given the renewed interest in negative interest rates as a means for overcoming the zero bound on nominal interest rates, this article reviews the history of negative nominal interest rates and gives a brief survey over the current proposals that received popular attention in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007/08. It is demonstrated that taxing money proposals have a long intellectual history and that instead of being the conjecture of a monetary crank, they are a serious policy proposal. In a second step the article points out that, besides the more popular debate on a Gesell tax as a means to remove the zero bound on nominal interest rates, there is a class of neoclassical search-models that advocates a negative tax on money as efficiency enhancing. This strand of the literature has so far been largely ignored by the policy debate on negative interest rates.
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  • Cordelius Ilgmann & Martin Menner, 2011. "Negative nominal interest rates: history and current proposals," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 383-405, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:iecepo:v:8:y:2011:i:4:p:383-405
    DOI: 10.1007/s10368-011-0186-z
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    1. Flirt z ujemnymi stopami procentowymi
      by k.Ned in Obserwator Finansowy on 2015-01-05 07:59:22
    2. The history of negative nominal interest rates
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    11. Wenzlaff, Ferdinand & Kimmich, Christian & Koudela, Thomas & Richters, Oliver & Freydorf, Christoph & Schuster, Ludwig, 2012. "Wachstumszwang in der Geldwirtschaft? Theoretische Erwägungen," EconStor Research Reports 237053, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    12. Ansgar Belke & Jens Klose, 2012. "Modifying Taylor Reaction Functions in Presence of the Zero-Lower-Bound – Evidence for the ECB and the Fed," Ruhr Economic Papers 0343, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
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    16. Freydorf, Christoph & Kimmich, Christian & Koudela, Thomas & Schuster, Ludwig & Wenzlaff, Ferdinand, 2012. "Wachstumszwänge in der Geldwirtschaft. Zwischenbericht der Wissenschaftlichen Arbeitsgruppe nachhaltiges Geld," EconStor Preprints 142471, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
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