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  3. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics
  4. January 2023
  5. Uncovering the Effects of the Zero Lower Bound with an Endogenous Financial Wedge

American Economic Journal:
Macroeconomics

ISSN 1945-7707 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7715 (Online)

Uncovering the Effects of the Zero Lower Bound with an Endogenous Financial Wedge

  • Dan Cao
  • Wenlan Luo
  • Guangyu Nie
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics
vol. 15, no. 1, January 2023
(pp. 135–72)
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Abstract

We study the effects of the zero lower bound (ZLB) on the severity of financial crises using an incomplete markets New Keynesian model with two occasionally binding constraints: a ZLB on the nominal interest rate and a borrowing constraint tied to an asset price. The model's financial wedge corresponds to an endogenous multiplier on the borrowing constraint. Binding ZLB exacerbates financial crises through its interaction with the asset fire sale vicious cycle, driving up the financial wedge. Our results offer a novel reinterpretation of the negligible effect of the ZLB in representative agent New Keynesian models with exogenous wedges.

Citation

Cao, Dan, Wenlan Luo, and Guangyu Nie. 2023. "Uncovering the Effects of the Zero Lower Bound with an Endogenous Financial Wedge." American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 15 (1): 135–72. DOI: 10.1257/mac.20200495

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • E12 General Aggregative Models: Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
  • E31 Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
  • E32 Business Fluctuations; Cycles
  • E43 Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
  • E52 Monetary Policy
  • G01 Financial Crises