A New Perspective on Low Interest Rates

Marco Del Negro, Domenico Giannone, Marc Giannoni and Andrea Tambalotti

No 20180205, Liberty Street Economics from Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Abstract: Interest rates in the United States have remained at historically low levels for many years. This series of posts explores the forces behind the persistence of low rates. We briefly discuss some of the explanations advanced in the academic literature, and propose an alternative hypothesis that centers on the premium associated with safe and liquid assets. Our argument, outlined in a paper we presented at the Brookings Conference on Economic Activity last March, suggests that the increase in this premium since the late 1990s has been a key driver of the decline in the real return on U.S. Treasury securities.

Keywords: liquidity; convenience yields; safety; r star (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E2 E5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-02-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac and nep-mon
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fednls:87238

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