This paper makes three main points. Fiscal policy, first, may be needed in the long run to maintain full employment and avoid secular stagnation. If fiscal policy is used in this way, second, the long-run debt ratio depends (i) inversely on the rate of growth, (ii) inversely on government...

This paper takes a multi-country perspective to address several challenges in estimating the effects of recessionary shocks when interest rates are low and near the zero lower bound (ZLB). Using panel, time-series, and non-linear VAR techniques, country-specific adjustments to global demand...

The fall in risk free interest rates since the 1980s has mostly been described as being induced by factors that push down interest rates from the demand side. This paper contributes to the literature by adding a view of the supply side, namely that interest has to be earned first, before it can...