What’s New About Today’s Low Interest Rates?
In an era when public debt write-offs are widely viewed as unacceptable and governments are often reluctant to write off private debts, sustained negative real returns are the slow-burn path to reducing debt. Absent a surprise inflation spurt, this will be a long process.
CAMBRIDGE – A day seldom passes without articles appearing in the financial press pondering why interest rates have remained so low for so long. This is one of those articles. So let’s start by clarifying whose and which interest rates are low and what is and isn’t novel or unprecedented.