Analysis

How Low Can Rates Go?


Listen Later

Martin Wolf, Chief Economic Commentator of the Financial Times, examines how policymakers are testing the norms of economic life as they seek solutions to slow growth. The payment of interest goes back to the Babylonians. Today, the business of banking is based on paying savers and charging borrowers for money. Negative interest rates, paying banks for holding our funds, violates this established norm. Yet, five central banks, which together oversee a quarter of the world's economy, have opted to impose negative rates on the commercial banks that must use their services. The aim of this unconventional policy is to convince people to spend and invest rather save. The results so far have been mixed. So might central banks be running out of options to boost economic growth, nearly ten years after the start of the last financial crisis? Martin Wolf talks with economists and central bankers, past and present, about why ideas once thought utterly shocking, such as "helicopter money" and a the abolition of cash, are being openly considered. How might such policies affect the way people spend and save in the future? And how low can interest rates go?

Producer: Sandra Kanthal.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

AnalysisBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

195 ratings


More shows like Analysis

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,929 Listeners

From Our Own Correspondent by BBC Radio 4

From Our Own Correspondent

377 Listeners

More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

864 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,067 Listeners

The Reith Lectures by BBC Radio 4

The Reith Lectures

160 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,577 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,807 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,904 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,732 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,020 Listeners

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 by BBC Radio 4

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4

2,117 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,953 Listeners

Profile by BBC Radio 4

Profile

113 Listeners

The Media Show by BBC Radio 4

The Media Show

33 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

411 Listeners

Moral Maze by BBC Radio 4

Moral Maze

73 Listeners

The Inquiry by BBC World Service

The Inquiry

745 Listeners

Start the Week by BBC Radio 4

Start the Week

160 Listeners

Any Questions? and Any Answers? by BBC Radio 4

Any Questions? and Any Answers?

43 Listeners

Daily Politics from the New Statesman by The New Statesman

Daily Politics from the New Statesman

140 Listeners

The Briefing Room by BBC Radio 4

The Briefing Room

75 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,245 Listeners

The Bomb by BBC World Service

The Bomb

1,011 Listeners

Westminster Insider by POLITICO

Westminster Insider

41 Listeners

Radical with Amol Rajan by BBC Radio 4

Radical with Amol Rajan

47 Listeners