The effect of negative policy rates on the interest-rate pass-through mechanism in the eurozone

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the June 2014 switch to negative interest rates (NIRs) by the European Central Bank (ECB) on the operation of the eurozone interest-rate pass-through (IRPT) mechanism. We focus on the relationship between major central-bank policy rates and selected money-market rates. That link is identified as the first stage of the IRPT mechanism and its dynamics are analysed using Granger causality and cointegration techniques for the time period January 2000–June 2017. Our empirical findings indicate a feedback relationship between the ECB policy and the money-market rates in the period prior to June 2014, but that relationship is non-operative when considering only the period of NIRs.