Risks and the influence of negative interest rates on economic activity: a case study of Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of negative interest rates on economic activity in a selected group of countries, in particular Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland, for the period 2009–2018. The central banks of these countries were among the first to implement negative interest rates to revive the economic growth. Therefore, this study analyzed long- and short-term relationships between interest rates announced by central banks and gross domestic product and blue chip stock indices. Time series analysis was conducted using Engle-Granger cointegration analysis and Granger causality testing to identify long- and short-term relationship. The first step, using the Akaike criteria, was to determine the optimal delay of the entire time interval for the analyzed periods. Time series that seem to be stationary were excluded based on the results of the Dickey-Fuller test. Further testing continued with the Engle-Granger test if the conditions were met. It was designed to identify co-integration relationships that would show correlation between the selected variables. These tests showed that at a significance level of 0.05, there is no co-integration between any time series in the countries analyzed. On the basis of these analyses, it was determined that there were no long-term relationships between interest rates and GDP or stock indices for these countries during the monitored time period. Using Granger causality, the study only confirmed short-term relationship between interest rates and GDP for all examined countries, though not between interest rates and the stock indices. Acknowledgment The paper has been created with the financial support of The Czech Science Foundation GACR 18-05244S – Innovative Approaches to Credit Risk Management.

Negative interest rates: How do they work? Case studies in Japan, Europe, Switzerland, Sweden, and Denmark

“…This helped Denmark fight back appreciation of their currency and brought up their GDP and as a result, they were able to bring their interest rate back into the positives in May 2014 (Chen, 2018, p. 6). While Denmark has its own currency, it is pegged to the European Euro, which means it has to copy the ECB's interest rates to stay afloat (Černohorská & Kubicová, 2020, p. 39). So, when the ECB lowered its overnight interest rate below zero in June 2014, Denmark followed by lowering its rates to below what they were in 2012, down to −0.75% (Chen, 2018, p. 8).…”

“…The first time I was seen was in Sweden in 2009. The reason banks even began implementing this unconventional policy is because after the 2008 financial crisis, central banks dropped their interest rates to near zero and were unable to provide any more economic easing to help the economic situation (Černohorská & Kubicová, 2020, p. 30). The purpose of this move is usually to stimulate the economy.…”