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: 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. It worked for a while, but recently the effect has faded. Prices are falling again, and the bank needed to try something new. Are negative rates working? Money was already cheap in Japan, and negative rates have succeeded in making it even cheaper. The yield on 10-year government bonds, for instance, fell below zero in February, meaning investors are lending the government money knowing that they will not be repaid in full.