scholarly journals New Evidence on the Interest Rate Effects of Budget Deficits and Debt

Author(s):  
Thomas Laubach
2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-345
Author(s):  
Ansgar Belke ◽  
Matthias Göcke

The interest rate is generally considered as an important driver of macroeconomic investment characterised by a particular form of path dependency, “hysteresis”. At the same time, the interest rate channel is a central ingredient of monetary policy transmission. In this context, we shed light on the issue (which currently is a matter of concern for many central banks) whether uncertainty over future interest rates at the zero lower bound hampers monetary policy transmission. As an innovation we derive the exact shape of the “hysteretic” impact of rate changes on macroeconomic investment under different sorts of uncertainty. Starting with hysteresis effects on the micro level, we apply an adequate aggregation procedure to derive the interest rate effects on a macro level. Our results may serve as a guideline for future central banks’ policies on how to stimulate investment in times of low or even zero interest rates and uncertainty.


Author(s):  
Olusola Dahunsi

Purpose: Empirical investigations into the interest rate effects on domestic savings have provided mixed results. Hence, this study examined the interest rate effects on domestic savings in line with the financial liberalization hypothesis since the period of structural adjustment program (SAP) in Nigeria. Approach/Methodology/Design: Data on gross domestic savings, interest rate, gross capital formation, and rate of inflation from 1986 to 2018 were obtained and analyzed using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique. Findings: The results revealed that interest rate and gross domestic savings are co-integrated in the long-run. The study showed that while capital formation positively affects domestic savings, the interest rate affects domestic savings negatively since the economic reforms of 1986 in Nigeria. Practical Implications: The results of the study are important for the Nigerian government to promote home-grown investments through domestic savings and capital formation. This will be made possible in the face of interest rate liberalization in which a higher interest rate serves as incentives for the household to save more thereby increasing domestic savings of the economy. Originality/value: The study further revealed that the long-run relationship exists between domestic private investments and interest rates.


2002 ◽  
Vol 41 (4II) ◽  
pp. 551-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Qayyum

Accurate measures of the size and direction of changes in monetary policy are very important. A number of variables/indicators have been used as a measure of the stance of monetary policy the world over. These include growth rates of monetary aggregates and credit aggregates, short-term interest rate as used by Sims (1992), index of minutes of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), as suggested by Friedman and Schwartz (1963) and reintroduced by Romer and Romer (1989), monetary policy index constructed by employing Vector Autoregression (VAR) estimation technique with prior information from Central Bank such as Bernanke and Blinder (1992) and Bernanke and Mihov (1998), and Monetary Conditions Index (MCI)—which is the focus of this paper—constructed by and used by Bank of Canada [Freedman (1995)], taking into consideration the interest rate and exchange rate channel of monetary policy transmission mechanism in a small open economy. In case of open economy it is assumed that the monetary policy affects the economy and the prime objective of monetary policy, rate of inflation, through two important transmission mechanisms. These transmission channels are; interest rate channel and exchange rate channel. The working of the first channel is that the interest rate influences the level of expenditures, investment and subsequently domestic demand. The change in official interest rate effects the market rates of interest both short term as well as long term interest rates. This change in market rates of interest is transmitted to the bank lending rates and saving rates. The change in saving rate effects the spending behaviour of individuals (consumption) whereas the change in bank lending rate effects the investment behaviour of firms (investment). The change in aggregate consumption and investment has direct link to the gross domestic product (GDP).


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