[jjazwiecki]

Just listened to this Bloomberg podcast, where they interviewed Viktor Shvets on the meaning/implications/future of negative interest rates: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2019-08-09/what-negativ...

> He argues that undermining the ’time value’ of money–or the principle that money available now is worth more than money in the future because you can use it to earn additional money–won’t lead to economic growth. In fact, he says, negative rates are going to end up leading to a rethink of modern capitalism and political society once people realize they have big consequences.

[klipt]

Isn't that also why economists think excessive inflation is bad? Because it undermines the "time value of money"?

So to avoid inflation, instead of printing money, we lower interest rates.

But once interest rates go below 0, that also undermines the time value of money.

Oops.

[zaroth]

Lower rates cause increased inflation. Rates are lowered by increasing the price of bonds, by buying them, e.g. "printing money".