Title: Japan’s Negative Interest Rates Explained - The New York Times
Headings: Japan’s Negative Interest Rates Explained
Today in Business
Japan’s Negative Interest Rates Explained
What are negative interest rates?
What sort of countries have negative rates?
Rate Goes Negative
What does the Bank of Japan hope to accomplish?
Are negative rates working?
Still, people must be happy that money is cheap, right?

Content: Shinzo Abe is elected prime minister of Japan. +0.5
0
NEGATIVE
TERRITORY
JULY 2016
–0.18%
–0.5
’00
’05
’10
’15
+2.0
%
Yield on Japanese
10-year government bonds
+1.5
+1.0
2012: Shinzo Abe is elected prime minister of Japan. +0.5
0
JULY 2016
NEGATIVE TERRITORY
–0.18%
–0.5
’00
’05
’10
’15
What does the Bank of Japan hope to accomplish? The bank is trying to lift consumer prices, which have been sliding for most of the past 20 years. Falling consumer prices hurt corporate revenues, keeping companies from raising wages or spending on new projects. But the bank’s efforts are foundering. Its main tool has been an extensive bond-buying program, similar to policies adopted by the Federal Reserve in the United States and the European Central Bank. Bond-buying injects money into a country’s financial system. From there, it is supposed to flow to the rest of the economy.