This interview outlines a proposal by Miles Kimball to use electronic money to allow central banks to set nominal interest rates less than zero. This, he says would encourage citizens in the direction needed by an economy in the short term, and would help smooth it in the long term. When an economy needs people to save, interest rates rise. When an economy needs people to invest and borrow, interest rates should be able to go negative. Kimball asserts: “We’ve blocked the economy’s ability to get itself in balance by not having negative interest rates.”

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