text:
Negative nominal interest rates: three ways to overcome the zero lower bound
Negative Nominal Interest Rates:
Three ways to overcome the zero lower bound
∗∗∗∗
Willem H. Buiter
Professor of European Political Economy
London School of Economics and Political Science, NBER and CEPR
∗I would like to thank Anne Sibert, Charles Goodhart, Ben Broadbent and participants in seminars at the Center
for Financial Studies at the Goethe University, Frankfurt on May 6th 2009, at the European Central Bank on May 18, 2009 and at the 13th International Conference on Macroeconomic Analysis and International Finance at the University Campus of the University of Crete in Retymno Crete, May 28-30, 2009. Comments by Fabrizio Zilibotti were especially useful in clarifying key issues involving the third method for removing the zero lower bound.
© Willem H. Buiter 2009
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The paper considers three methods for eliminating the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates and thus for restoring symmetry to domain over which the central bank can vary its policy rate. They are: (1) abolishing currency (which would also be a useful crime-fighting measure); (2) paying negative interest on currency by taxing currency; and (3) decoupling the numéraire from the currency/medium of exchange/means of payment and introducing an exchange rate between the numéraire and the currency which can be set to achieve a forward discount (expected depreciation) of the currency vis-a-vis the numéraire when the nominal interest rate in terms of the numéraire is set at a negative level for monetary policy purposes.
Key words: Monetary policy, zero interest rate policy; liquidity trap; quantitative easing;
Gesell; Eisler.
JEL Classification System: B1, B2, B3, E1, E3, E4, E5, F3, F4, G1, H2.
Author's information:
Willem H. Buiter, CBE, FBA
Professor of European Political Economy European Institute
London School of Economics and Political Science Houghton Street,
London WC2A 2AE, UK
Office location: Cowdray House, J103, Portugal Street
Tel.: + 44 (0)20 7955 6959 Fax: + 44 (0)20 7955 7546 Mobile: + 44 (0)7961 909 314 Skype: willemhbuiter E-mail1: w.buiter@lse.ac.uk E-mail2: willembuiter@btinternet.com Web Page: http://www.nber.org/~wbuiter/ Blog: http://blogs.ft.com/maverecon
There is a notable asymmetry in the design and implementation of monetary policy: nominal interest rates cannot be negative. During boom times, when the economy is overheating and inflation threatens to rise to undesirable levels, the central bank can raise the official policy rate (a short, risk-free nominal interest rate) to any level it deems necessary. During economic downturns, when excess capacity rises and deflation threatens, the official policy rate can be cut no further than zero. If a further stimulus is desired, unconventional monetary policy, such as quantitative easing (QE) and credit easing (CE) must be resorted to.
The zero lower bound is not just of academic interest. In Japan and the US, the official policy rates are effectively at their zero floors. In the UK, Bank Rate is 0.50 percent, which the Bank of England regards, for technical operational reasons, as its effective zero lower bound. In the Euro Area, the official policy rate still stands at 1.00 percent, but the rate banks get on their reserves with the central bank has been much closer to zero.
A number of economists have suggested that, using calculations based on variations of the Taylor rule (a rule that makes the official policy rate an increasing function of the output gap and of the excess of actual or expected inflation over target inflation) and ignoring the zero lower bound, the official policy rate in the US early in 2009 should have been as low as minus 5 percent or even minus 7.5 percent.1 Whatever the merits of the Taylor rule and the specific calculations, there is a strong case that the zero lower bound has indeed, during the current downturn, been a binding constraint on central bank interest rate setting.
The minus 7.5 percent figure was suggested in March 2009 as a level of the Federal Funds target rate that could be required by the end of 2009, by Laurence Meyer, a former Fed Board member, now vice chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, in a note to clients. The minus five percent figure was widely reported in April 2009, as the product of internal analysis prepared by Fed staff for the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting (see e.g. Financial Times (2009) and Taylor (2009b)).
The zero lower bound on the short-risk-free nominal interest rate on non-monetary financial instruments derives from the existence of a risk-free nominal instrument that carries a zero interest rate. Since the instrument in question, currency, has other attractive properties that are not shared by other nominally denominated non-monetary stores of value like Treasury Bills, including legal tender status, and is, for practical purposes, perfectly liquid, a Treasury Bill with a negative nominal interest rate would be dominated by currency as a store of value. There would be a simple pure arbitrage opportunity for anyone able to borrow at a negative nominal interest rate and invest in currency.
The reason no interest, at a positive or at a negative rate, is paid on currency is that it is costly and administratively awkward and intrusive to do so. All financial instruments can be divided into two categories: bearer instruments and registered instruments. Bearer instruments have anonymous owners: the issuer (borrower) does not know the identity of the owner (holder or bearer). This makes it difficult to pay positive interest rates: the owner/bearer could present the same instrument repeatedly for interest due to the owner only once. The solution is to 'mark' the instrument itself, so it can be identified as current on interest. Historically, this was done by 'clipping coupons' of fixed interest bonds or by stamping the bond document. Paying negative interest on bearer instrument is even harder, because the issuer has to incentivise the holder to come forward to pay the issuer the interest due. The holder is anonymous. Why would he volunteer to reveal himself to the issuer?
Currency being a bearer instrument is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the payment of interest on currency, positive or negative, to be difficult. Many of the most common bonds are, after all, bearer instruments.2 Currency, however, is a negotiable bearer
2 The vast majority of international bonds, historically called Eurobonds, are bearer. Bearer bonds can take two main forms. First, the traditional definitive style, where the bonds literally are individual pieces of security - printed paper in denominations of, say, $10,000, which individual holders bring in to paying agents so as to receive payment of interest and principal. Second, global bonds, which are technically bearer instruments but
bond, and one that is transferable without endorsement. A financial instrument is negotiable if it is transferable from one party to another by being delivered (with or without endorsement) so that the title passes to the transferee.34 Thus, not only does the issuer not know the identity of the holder of a negotiable bearer bond, that holder can change easily and with little cost. Negotiable bearer bonds make their owners very difficult to keep track of. The solution is that if you cannot identify the owner, you identify/mark the individual instruments themselves as current on interest.
Operationally, this marking of instruments can be achieved by putting an expiration date on the instrument. Unless interest due by the bearer to the issuer is paid before the expiration date and the instrument marked is marked as current on interest, the instrument represents no further claim on the issuer. During the 1930s, there were many experiments, in continental Europe, Canada and the US, with sub-national stamp scrip money.5 The problem
consist of a single piece of paper representing the entire issue (and so worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars). In practice, the terms of the global bond say that only Euroclear (the settlement system based in Brussels) or Cedelbank (the settlement system based in Luxembourg) are entitled to the proceeds of the global bond, and that Euroclear and Cedelbank will in turn divide the proceeds up amongst the end-investors whose details are stored in their electronic records. Thus the global bond is not an instrument which in practice can be passed from one owner to another, even though it is technically bearer. Effectively the bonds are dematerialised.
Bearer bonds are legal and quite common in the UK. While the bearer debenture went out of use, replaced by the non-negotiable debenture or debenture stock, transferable (in the same way as common stocks) by entry in the company's register, a number of new negotiable investment securities have evolved. They include the modern bearer bond, the negotiable certificate of deposit, and the floating rate note. A limited number of gilts have also been issued with a bearer option. Before July 1983, municipal securities in the U.S. were issued for the most part in certificate form with coupons attached. Some of these so-called old-style bearer bonds are still available in the marketplace. The issuer has no record of who owns these bonds. The owner clips the coupons and collects the interest from the issuer's paying agent. Transferring the bonds requires physical delivery and payment. Bearer bonds issued by municipal authorities were made illegal in the U.S. in 1982.
Key elements of negotiability include the following: (1) transfer by physical delivery; (2) transfer confers on its holder unchallengeable title and (3) a negotiable instrument benefits from a number of evidential and procedural advantages in the event of a court action.
An endorsement is a signature on a negotiable instrument indicating a person's intent to become a party to the
instrument.
5 From the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (2008), I cite the following: "Stamp scrip, sometimes called coupon scrip, arose in several communities. It was denominated in dollars, in denominations from 25 cents to $5, with $1 denominations most common. Stamp scrip often became redeemable by the issuer in official U.S. dollars after one year. What made stamp scrip unique among scrip schemes was a series of boxes on the reverse side of the note. Stamp scrip took two basic forms-dated and undated (often called "transaction stamp scrip"). Typically, 52 boxes appeared on the back of dated stamp scrip, one for each week of the year. In order to spend
in applying this to government fiat currency is that currency has no expiration date. As a financial instrument, it is like a zero coupon perpetuity or consol – promise to pay nothing forever. While private or local government IOUs may lose their value if they are not at some point redeemable into legal tender (at least in principle), currency is already legal tender. It is also irredeemable: it does not represent a claim on the issuer for anything other than the same amount of itself. So incentives have to be created to induce private holders of currency to reveal their ownership of currency, come forward and pay any negative interest due. No government has, as yet, had the stomach for that.
Registered instruments are instruments where the identity of the owner is recorded in some central register. Common stock is an example. So are bank accounts, including commercial bank accounts held with the central bank. Negative interest rates on bank balances would be as easily implemented as positive interest rates – both are just entries in an electronic ledger. Negative dividends are not technically difficult (it would amount to a compulsory cash call on the shareholders) although it may not be legally permissible in most jurisdictions. In addition, since equity has a variable market value, nominal rates of return can be negative, when dividends and capital gains are considered together. The same holds for fixed-interest nominal debt instruments.
This paper considers three methods for removing the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates. Each follows a quite different route, although the end result is the same. The first, abolishing currency, ensures that all money (means of payment/media of exchange) consists of registered instruments on which the payment of positive or negative interest is trivially easy. The second, taxing currency, is a means of paying negative interest on
the dated scrip, the stamps on the back had to be current. Each week, a two-cent stamp needed to be purchased from the issuer and affixed over the corresponding week's box on the back of the scrip. Over the coming week, the scrip could be spent freely within the community. Whoever was caught holding the scrip at week's end was required to attach a new stamp before spending the scrip. In this scheme, money became a hot potato, with individuals passing it quickly to avoid having to pay for the next stamp."
currency, using what amounts to stamp scrip methods, even though more high-tech ways than physically stamping bank notes are now available as means of identifying currency notes as current on interest due. The third method decouples the numéraire function of currency from its means of payment/medium of exchange function and introduces a variable exchange rate between a unit of the one-period safe non-monetary security denominated in terms of the numéraire and the currency/means of payment. That exchange rate can either be set by the government or be market-determined. This permits the nominal interest rate in terms of the numéraire to be negative, even though the nominal interest rate in terms of the currency is subject to the zero lower bound.
The literature on negative nominal interest rates is limited. There is the notable work by Silvio Gesell (1916) and the Great Depression-era writings of Robert Eisler (1932) and Irving Fisher (1933). In the 'modern era', only Robert Hall has repeatedly addressed issues close to the ones considered in this paper (Hall (1983, 1997, 2002), Hall and Woodward (2009)). The issue of the zero lower bound became of interest again since about 1996, following the Japanese zero interest rate policy and experiment with quantitative easing, and because of the low nominal interest rates encountered in much of Europe and the US following the bursting of the tech bubble at the end of 2000. Examples are Goodfriend (2000), Buiter and Panigirtzoglou (2001, 2003), Buiter (2004, 2007a), Buiter and Sibert (2007), Davies (2004) and Fukao (2005). The experience of having both the Fed and the Bank of Japan effectively at the zero lower bound, the Bank of England very close to it and the ECB also not far away, resurrected the policy debate, mainly in the blogosphere, in parliamentary or congressional evidence or in speeches since 2008 (Mankiw (2009), Buiter, (2009a, b, c), Taylor (2009a,b)).
Section 1 establishes a map between the two short nominal interest rates of the formal model and the much larger set of short nominal interest rates encountered in the real world of
central banking. Section two develops a simple formal model which is used, in Section 3, to present the three methods for removing the zero lower bound. Section 4, prompted by discussions with Fabrizio Zilibotti, offers a number of reinterpretations and extensions of the third method – unbundling numéraire and currency. Section 5 points out that the model does not support a liquidity trap equilibrium (short nominal interest rates at their lower bounds for all maturities) if the authorities pursue even the mildest form of quantitative easing.
Clearing the ground for the formal model
The academic version of the zero lower bound problem is generally stated in terms of a non-negativity constraint on 'the' short nominal risk-free rate of interest – the one-period rate in a discrete time model and the instantaneous rate of interest in a continuous time model. In the world of actual monetary policy making, there are many different short-term nominal rates. In what follows I define the more important ones, relate them to each other and make explicit the assumptions that permit one to simplify the exposition to the point that it is meaningful to speak of the short nominal interest rate.
We start with the following set of six one-period nominal interest rates:
: interest rate on one period Treasury Bills. : interest rate on base money held for one period.
: interest rate on currency notes and coins held for one period. : one period interest rate on
M N D i i i i −
− bank reserves deposits held with the central bank.
: one period interest rate on collateralised commercial bank borrowing from the central bank. : one period official policy rate.
B CB i i − − In addition to B
i , which measures the one-period interest rate at which commercial banks can borrow from the central bank against high-grade collateral, generally through repos, most central banks have a discount window where banks can borrow against a wider range of collateral, sometimes including illiquid assets. For reasons of space this is not
considered here. Nor are the many ad-hoc facilities created by central banks during the current crisis.
The first five of these interest rates are attached to financial instruments that may have a non-negative carry cost – the cost of storing, safekeeping (including insurance) and using these securities.
: carry cost on one-period Treasury Bills. : one-period carry cost on base money. : one-period carry cost on currency.
: one-period carry cost on bank reserves with the central bank. : one-period c M N D B k k k k
k arry cost on collateralised bank borrowing from the central bank. The interest-rate on one-period Treasury Bills will in what follows stand for the safe, that is, free of default risk, nominal yield on non-monetary assets. Because even US sovereign debt is no longer viewed by the markets as entirely free of default risk (credit default swaps written on five-year US sovereign debt have during 2008 shown a default risk premium of around 40 basis points), there may be no completely default-risk free assets in the real world.6 Base money, M , has two components: currency, N, (bank notes and coin in circulation with the public) and reserves held by commercial banks with the central bank, D . For simplicity, I do not distinguish here between required reserves and excess reserves or other partitions of total reserves. Unsecured or non-collateralised bank borrowing from the central bank is not risk free, because banks can default on their obligations. Commercial banks therefore typically borrow from the central banks against collateral. When the quality of the collateral is very high (if, say, Treasury bills or bonds are offered as collateral or are used in repo (sale and repurchase) contracts between the commercial bank and the central
Which counterparty would pay out on a CDS written on US Treasury debt is not entirely clear, of course. This
bank), the loan from the central bank has the risk of the sovereign and is therefore, for the purposes of this paper, risk-free.
Finally there is the official policy rate of the central bank. In the US, this is the Federal Funds target rate, which is not a rate charged or paid on any instrument, but instead a guide or target for the overnight rate in the Federal Funds market (a market for unsecured interbank borrowing and lending of excess reserves with the Fed). In the UK it is Bank Rate, the overnight interest rate paid on commercial bank reserves with the Bank of England. From 1997 until early 2006, however, the official policy rate in the UK was the two-week repo rate, the rate at which the Bank of England would lend for a two-week maturity to commercial banks against eligible, high grade collateral. In the Euro Area the official policy rate is, since July 2008, the Main refinancing operations fixed rate (for fixed rate tenders). This is a repo rate against (supposedly) high-grade collateral for a range of maturities from overnight to a year. Before July 2008, it was the Main refinancing operations Variable rate tenders Minimum bid rate. In Japan, the official policy rate is a target rate for the Uncollateralized Overnight Call Rate, the lending rate charged for uncollateralised loans in the Japanese interbank market, the Japanese version of the Federal Funds rate. In Switzerland, the official policy rate is a target (range) for 3-month Libor, the 3-month unsecured interbank borrowing rate. The variety of arrangements in the real world is quite remarkable.
The following restrictions on the relative magnitudes of these short rates and their associated carry costs are plausible:
or, in terms of the two components of base money:
M M N N D D B B D D i k i k i k i k i k i k i k i k − ≥ − − ≥ − − ≥ − − ≥ −
The restriction that the risk-free one-period interest rate on non-monetary assets (net of carry costs) cannot be below the rate on base money (net of carry costs) or below the rate on the components of base money follows from the assumption that base money (currency and reserves) yields non-pecuniary liquidity services that are not found to the same extent in other assets. The restriction that the interest rate at which banks borrow against collateral from the central bank is not below the rate the banks earn when depositing funds with the central bank (both net of carry costs) is an assumption about central bank behaviour: even with sovereign debt instruments as collateral, a central bank loan to a private bank cannot have a lower default risk than a private bank's deposit with the central bank. The central bank does not wish to offer the commercial banks a pure arbitrage opportunity. This is reflected in the rates the central bank sets for its deposits and loans.
The only financial instrument of the five considered likely to have significant carry costs is currency: it is bulky and costly to store, it can be stolen and it can be destroyed by fires and other man-made or natural disasters. I therefore assume
0 0 N D B k k k k > = = = Finally, I assume D CB B i ≤i ≈ ≤i i It therefore follows that
i≥i −k (1)
Even if the interest rate on currency is zero, iN =0, the short nominal interest rate on non-monetary securities could be some (small) negative number, because of the high carry costs on currency. In the formal model of the next section, I will simplify notation by equating all risk-free non-monetary one-period interest rates to each other, and by setting the carry costs on currency equal to zero, kN =0. This gives us:
CB D B N
i=i =i = ≥i i (2)
A simple model of the euro currency economy
I will formally present the main ideas about removing the lower bound on the short-term risk-free nominal interest rate using a simple model of a closed endowment economy with a representative infinite-lived household-worker-portfolio manager and a government sector consisting of a consolidated Central Bank and Treasury. For simplicity, and because none-of the results depend on it, I assume that there exists a complete set of time and state-contingent markets. Price setting follows a variant of the New-Keynesian Calvo-Woodford approach (Calvo (1983), Woodford (2003)).
2.1 The private sector in the euro-currency economy
The competitive representative household receives an endowment yt >0of a single perishable commodity (potential labour time) each period, t=0,1, 2,...., which it takes as given. It can either consume the endowment or sell it to other consumers or to the government. The household maximizes lifetime expected utility, as defined in equation (3).
The lifetime utility functional is defined over an infinite horizon, is time-additive and has a constant psychological discount factor β. The period utility function is increasing in consumption ct ≥0and real base money balancesmt ≥0, and strictly concave. The results of the paper are not affected if the 'money-in-the-direct-utility-function approach' were to be replaced by a 'cash-in-advance' approach, a 'shopping-time' approach or a 'money-in-the-production-function' approach.
For expositional and notational simplicity, the period utility function is assumed to be additively separable in consumption, leisure and the real euro monetary base. Each of the sub-utility functions is assumed to be iso-elastic. The conditional expectation operator at
time t is denoted E , the nominal stock of base money at the end of period t is t M , t P is the t
period-t general price level and t t
t M m
≡ . Note that Mt is the stock of euro base money and
that Pt is the euro price level in period t. Most of the time, the formal model treats base money as a homogeneous instrument with an exogenous single-period own rate of interest,
i , rather than decomposing it into currency, N and reserves with the central bank, D , each , with its own, possibly distinct, interest rate. Where it matters for the analysis, this simplification is relaxed. 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 ln 1 1 0 1; , 0 t t t t U E
c γ
m γ
η γ
∞ − − =   =  +  − −   < < >
The household's optimisation programme is subject to its period budget identity (4), its solvency constraint (5) and initial conditions for its financial assets (6). The risk-free one-period nominal interest rate on non-monetary assets in one-period t is it+1,t, the period t one-period risk-free nominal interest rate on base money is itM+1,t,
t is real lump-sum taxes paid in period t, It+1,t is the one-period stochastic nominal discount factor in period t, Wt is the value of the portfolio of financial assets (including money) in period t, and At is the value in period t of the portfolio of non-monetary financial assets carried over from period t−1, including interest or other income paid.
1, 1, 1, 1 1, ( ) 1 M t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t i i E I W W P y c M i τ + + + + +  −  ≡ + − − −  +   (4) 1, lim t k t k 0. k→∞E I + W ≥ (5) 1 1 0 0 0 M M A A − = − > = (6)
In general,
I is the nominal stochastic discount factor between periods t1 andt . It 0 has the following properties:
1 1 0 0 , , 1 1 0 1 1 0 ; 1 . t t t k k k t I I t t t t − = + ≡ > ≡ =
The risk-free one-period nominal rate of interest is defined by the following relationship: 1, 1, 1 1+it+ t =E It t+ t (8) By definition: , 1 1 (1 M ) t t t t t W ≡ A + +i − M − (9)
The period budget identity and the solvency constraint imply the household's intertemporal budget constraint:
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, , 1 1, , ( ) 1 ( ) 1 lim M t t t t t t t t t t t t M t j t j t j t j t t j t t j t j t j t j t j j t j t j t t T t t T T i i W P c y M i i i E I P c y M i E I W
+ + + ∞ + + + + + + + + + + + + = + + + + + →∞  −  = + − +  +     −   +  + − +   +     +
The inflation factor (1 plus the proportional rate of inflation) between periods t and 1 t is 0 denoted
1,0 1/ 0
t t Pt Pt
Π ≡ and the real stochastic discount factor between periods t and 1 t by 0
1,0 1,0 1,0
t t t t t t
R ≡I Π . The one-period risk-free real interest rate, rt+1,t is defined as:
1, 1,
1+rt+ t ≡E Rt t+ t (11)
For future reference, the multi-period stochastic discount factors are defined recursively as follows:
13 1 1 0 0 , , 1 1 0 1 1 0 ; 1 . t t t k k k t R R t t t t − = + ≡ > ≡ =
The optimality conditions of the household optimisation programme are the following (Covt denotes the conditional covariance at time t):
1, 1 (1 ) t t t t t c−γ =
+r+ E c−+γ (13) 1/ 1, 1, 1, 1 . t t t t M t t t t t i M c P i i γ
+ + +   +  =   −      (14) lim 0 T t T t T t T t T M E cγ P
+ →∞ + +   =     (15)
1 1, 1 1 1, 1, 1, 1 ( , ) 1 t t 1 t t t t t t t t t t t Cov c r i E E c γ γ − − + + − + + + − +  Π  + = +  Π +    (16) 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, , 1 1, , ( ) 1 ( ) 1 or equivalently lim 0 M t t t t t t t t t t t t M t j t j t j t j t t j t t j t j t j t j t j j t j t j t t T t t T T i i W P c y M i i i E I P c y M i E I W τ τ + + + ∞ + + + + + + + + + + + + = + + + + + →∞  −  = + − +  +     −   +  + − +   +     =
The household solvency constraint (5) holds with equality. Equation (13) is the Euler equation for consumption. The demand for real euro money balances is proportional to consumption and depends inversely on the pecuniary opportunity cost of holding money,
M t t t t
i+ −i+ . Equation (14) is the transversality condition governing the long-run behaviour of the stock of money balances (see Buiter and Sibert (2007)). It says that the value, across all states of nature, of the terminal stock of real money balances, evaluated at its appropriate present value shadow price, is zero. So either the stock of real money balances goes to zero or its shadow price goes to zero, or both. The state-contingent present value shadow price of
terminal real money balances equals the terminal marginal utility of consumption discounted using the subjective discount factor. The risk-free real interest rate equals the risk-free nominal interest rate minus the expected inflation rate and the inflation risk premium (equation (16)).
Pricing behaviour is assumed to be governed by a New-Keynesian Phillips curve with both a back-ward looking and forward-looking inflation component in the 'augmentation term'; yt >0 is the exogenous level of capacity output or potential output in period t.
1 , 1 (1 ) 1, 1, 2 1 0; 0 t t
yt yt
Et t t
− − + − − Π = − + − Π + Π ≥ ≥ ≥ (18) 1 1 1, 2 1, 2 P P
− −−
−− − = = (19)
Perfect price flexibility is the special case of (18) where
=0, in which case it becomes
y = y for all t≥0.
2.2 The government in the euro currency economy
The government in what follows is the consolidated general government and central bank. It spends on real goods and services, g with 0t ≤gt ≤ yt, raises real revenues
t and finances its financial deficit by issuing base euro money, M or safe, euro-denominated one-t period government debt, B . The government's period budget identity is t
, 1 1 , 1 1
(1 M ) (1 )
t t t t t t t t t t t
M + ≡ +B i − M − + +i − B− +P g −
This can be re-written as
1, 1, , 1 1 , 1 1 1, 1, 1, 1, (1 ) (1 ) ( ) (1 ) (1 ) 1 M t t t t M M t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t i i i M i B P g M E I i M i B i τ + + − − − − + + + +  −  + + + ≡ − +  + + + + +  
15 1, 1, , 1 1 , 1 1 1, 1, 1, , 1 1, 1, 1, (1 ) (1 ) ( ) 1 ( ) 1 lim (1 ) (1 M t t t t M t t t t t t t t t t t t M t j t j t j t j t t j t t j t j t j t j j t j t j M t t T t t T t T t T t T i i i M i B P g M i i i E I P g M i E I i M i
+ + − − − − + ∞ + + + + + + + + + + + = + + + + + + + + + + →∞  −  + + + ≡ − +  +     −   +  − +   +     + + + +
1, , 1 1 , 1 1 , , 1 1 1 1, 1, ) or, equivalently (1 ) ( ) (1 ) ( ) (1 ) lim (1 ) T t T t T M t t t t t t t t t t M t t j t t j t j t j t j t j t j t j j t t T t t T t T t T T B i B P g M i M E I P g M i M E I i B
+ + + − − − − ∞ + + + + + + + − + − = + + + + + + →∞ + ≡ − + − + + − + − + + +
The equivalence of the two intertemporal government budget identities in (21) can also be expressed through what I have called the intertemporal seigniorage identity, linking two common concepts of 'seigniorage' – the revenue obtained by the state from the issuance of base money (Buiter (2007b)). The first is the present discounted value of current and future base money issuance; the second is the present discounted value of current and future interest payments foregone due to the state's issuance of base money rather than risk-free non-monetary assets:
1, 1, , , 1 1 , 1 0 1, 1, 1, , 1 1 (1 ) 1 lim (1 ) (1 ) M t j t j t j t j M t t j t t j t j t j t j t t j t t j j j t j t j M t t T t t T t T t T T M t t t i i E I M i M E I M i E I i M i M ∞ ∞ + + + + + + + + + + − + − + + = = + + + + + + + + + →∞ − −  −  − + ≡   +   + − +
The solvency constraint for the government is that the present discounted value of its terminal non-monetary liabilities be non-positive:
1, 1, lim (1 ) 0 t t T t t T t T t T T E I+ + i+ + + B+ →∞ + ≤ (23)
Note the contrast between (23) and (5). Anticipating the asset market equilibrium condition, it is clear that, in equilibrium,
, 1 1
Since (1 , 1) 1 (1 , 1) 1 (1 , 1) 1
W = + +A i − M− = +i − B− + +i − M − , the household solvency constraint (5) can be written as:
1, 1, 1, lim (1 ) (1 M ) 0 t t T t t T t T t T t T t T t T T E I+ + i+ + + B+ i+ + + M+ →∞ + + + ≥ (24)
Comparing (23) and (24), households treat their holdings of government base money as an asset, even in the long run, while the government recognises that fiat base money is irredeemable: it does not represent a claim on the issuer for anything other than the same amount of itself (two five euro notes for one ten euro note). As it is irredeemable it does not belong in the government's solvency constraint. This, I believe, is the correct mathematical expression of the well-know proposition in monetary economics that fiat money represents an asset to the owner, but not a liability to the issuer (see Buiter (2003)).
Government spending, g , is exogenous, as is the nominal interest rate on euro base t money, it tM,−1. The short risk-free nominal interest rate on the euro-denominated bond is governed by a simplified Taylor rule, where the short rate responds more than one-for-one to the expected rate of inflation, as long as the lower bound constraint, that the short risk-free nominal interest rate on bonds cannot be lower than the short risk-free nominal interest rate on base money, is not binding. If the Taylor rule were to cause the constraint to bind, the short nominal interest rate on bonds is set equal to the nominal interest rate on base money;
ˆ 1
Π − is the exogenous target inflation rate.
1 1 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 1, 1, 1, ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ 1 ( ), if ( ) 1 ˆ ˆ 1 if ( ) 1 1 M t t t t t t t t t t M M t t t t t t t i E E i i E i β π φ β φ β φ φ − − + + + + − + + + + = + Π − Π Π + Π − Π > + = + Π + Π − Π ≤ + > (25)
If the lower bound constraint binds, the government engages in quantitative easing, according to
1, 1, 1 1,
The proportional growth rate of base money under quantitative easing, µt+1,t, is assumed to be exogenous subject to µt+1,t > −1. When the lower bound constraint i≥iM binds, the nominal stock of money becomes a choice variable of the government, or policy instrument. This is true even when the authorities 'monetary' policy rule when the lower bound constraint does not bind, is a rule for the short nominal interest rate, like the simplified Taylor rule of this model. The policy rule governing the nominal stock of base money under quantitative easing could take any form. The exogenous sequence of base money growth rates assumed here is just for expositional simplicity. The second half of the interest rate rule in (25), 1 1 1, ˆ 1, ˆ 1, 1 it 1 itM t if
(Et t t ) 1 itM t − + + + + + = + Π + Π − Π ≤ +
is not redundant. In principle, should the Taylor rule produce a nominal interest rate value at or below the interest rate on money, the authorities could set the actual interest rate at any level equal to or greater than the interest rate on money.
When the lower bound constraint does not bind, the nominal stock of base money,
M , is endogenously determined from the money demand function (14). The stock of one-period non-monetary government debt, B , and real lump-sum taxes, t
t, are only constrained by the requirement that the government's solvency constraint (23) be satisfied. There are many possible tax rules or borrowing rules satisfying this, including, trivially, the rule that the stock of non-monetary public debt is always equal to zero:
1 (1 M ) (1 ) 0 t t t t t t t t t t g M i M i B t P τ = − − + − − − + − − ≥
2.3 Equilibrium in the euro currency economy
Goods market equilibrium and asset market equilibrium are given by (27) and (28) respectively, for t≥0.
18 t t t y = +c g (27) , 1 1 (1 ) t t t t A = +i − B− (28)
The full set of equilibrium conditions consists of equations (29) to (35) for t≥0, the transversality condition (36) and the initial conditions (37) and (38). They determine, for
t≥ , and for given state-contingent sequences of { , , 1, , 1, }
g i −
− y the equilibrium values of { ,c rt t+1,t,it+1,t,M Pt, ,t Πt t,−1} 1, 1 (1 ) t t t t t c−γ =
+ + +   +  =   −      (30)
1 1, 1 1 1, 1, 1, 1 ( , ) 1 t t 1 t t t t t t t t t t t Cov c r i E E c γ γ − − + + − + + + − +  Π  + = +  Π +    (31)
1 , 1 (1 ) 1, 1, 2 t t
ct gt yt
t t − − + − − Π = + − + − Π + Π (32) 1 1 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 1, 1, 1, ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ 1 ( ), if ( ) 1 ˆ ˆ 1 if ( ) 1 M t t t t t t t t t t M M t t t t t t t i E E i i E i
− − + + + + − + + + + = Π + Π − Π Π + Π − Π > + = + Π + Π − Π ≤ + (33) 1, 1, 1 1, If it+ t =itM+ t then Mt+ = +(1
t+ t)Mt (34) 1 1, t t t t P P + + Π ≡ (35) 0 lim 0 T T T T T M E cγ P
→∞   =     (36) 1 1 0 M− =M− > (37) 1 1 1, 2 1, 2 P− P− − − − − = Π = Π (38)
It will be useful for future reference, to consider the steady state of the deterministic special case of the model when all exogenous variables are constant. This is also the stationary (fundamental) equilibrium of the flexible price level version (α−1=0) of the model. 1 1+ =r
− (39) 1/ 1 ( ) t M t M i m y g P i i γ
  +  ≡ =  −  −     (40) 1 1 i r + Π = + (41) | 0 0 0 0 (1 ) 1
lim lim lim ( )
( ) ( ) 1 T T T T T T T T T T M M M y g y g P y g P P i γ γ γ µ β β − µ →∞ →∞ →∞    +   +  =  =  −    −  − Π    +   (42) 1 1 1 ˆ If 1 then 1 ˆ If 1 then M M M i i i i i
β π
− − − > + + = Π ≤ + = (43) 1 If i=iM then Mt+ = +(1 µ)Mt (44)
2.5 The lower bound can become a binding constraint in the euro currency
It is clear that the constraint i≥iM can become binding in our model. From equations (39) to (44), interpreted as the fundamental solution of the deterministic flexible price level special case when the exogenous variables are all constant, a sufficiently low target rate of inflation, Π −ˆ 1, possibly assisted by a sufficiently low pure rate of time preference, 1
, can cause the lower bound constraint to bind. From equation (43), however, this would require a negative target rate of inflation that is equal to or larger in absolute value than the pure rate of time preference, if the nominal interest rate on base money is zero. In the
New-20
Keynesian variant of the model (
>0), there always exists a sufficiently large negative shock to gt−yt to ensure that the lower bound constraint binds.
3. Overcoming the lower bound on nominal interest rates
I now consider the three methods for removing the lower bound on nominal interest rates referred to in the introduction: (1) abolishing currency, (2) paying negative interest on currency or taxing currency, and (3) separating the medium of exchange/means of payment function from the numéraire function.
3.1 Abolishing currency
Base money, M , is the sum of currency, N≥0 and bank deposits held with the central bank, D .7 The interest rate on currency, iN, is zero, because it is a negotiable bearer bond. The interest rate on commercial bank deposits with the central bank, iD can be zero, positive or negative without significant administrative or enforcement costs, because they are registered financial instruments. From a government and private sector financing perspective, M ≡ +N D, but from the point of view of the provision of liquidity services, currency and deposits may not be perfect substitutes.8 One can formalise this by representing base money in the utility function as a constant-returns-to-scale CES function of N and D , with elasticity of substitution
between currency and bank deposits as regards the provision
Without changing the argument in any meaningful way, we can permit negative values for D, letting that stand
for commercial bank borrowing from the central bank against high-grade collateral, say Treasury Bills.
The government's period budget identity (20), for instance, becomes
1 (1 , 1) 1 (1 , 1) 1
t t t t t t t t t t t t t
of liquidity services . So m in the period utility function in equation (3) is no longer given
by m M P ≡ but becomes: 1 1 1 1 (1 ) 0; 0 1, 0 m P aN a D a θ θ θ θ θ θ θ − − − −   = Λ + −    Λ > ≤ ≤ ≥ (45)
Abolishing currency would mean setting Nt =0,t≥0, leaving only bank deposits with the central bank to provide the monetary base function. With positive or negative interest rates on bank deposits with the central bank feasible at trivial cost, the lower bound on the short, risk-free non-monetary nominal interest rate would be removed.
The expected welfare gain associated with the removal of the zero lower bound on currency would have to be balanced against the welfare consequences of the loss of currency. In our model, there would be no welfare impact from the loss of currency if currency and bank deposits were perfect substitutes as regards the provision of liquidity services (θ = +∞). Even if currency and commercial bank deposits with the central bank are imperfect substitutes as regards the provision of liquidity services, the authorities can still achieve satiation with real liquidity services, even without currency, by setting itM+1,t =itD+1,t =it+1,t, that is, by the interest rate on commercial bank reserves with the central bank tracking the short safe nominal rate on non-monetary securities.
What would the costs of abolishing currency (that is, government-issued fiat base money in the form of negotiable and freely transferable bearer securities)?
In advanced industrial countries, with well-developed financial markets and institutions, and with an ever-growing range of electronic payment and settlement vehicles, currency has effectively become a redundant medium of exchange and means of payment for legitimate, legal transactions (see e.g. Bolt (2003)). As regards legitimate transactions, they
are only used for small retail payments. In countries with developed financial systems, between checkable bank deposits, giro accounts at post offices, money market accounts, charge cards, credit cards, debit cards, a wide range of private forms of E-money or digital cash cards, like the CashCard made by NETS or the EZ-link card, currency has become redundant as a means of payment for legitimate transactions goods and services and as a store of value for legitimately acquired financial wealth, except for the poorest members of society. Although hard evidence is, for obvious reasons, difficult to come by, there is a reasonable presumption that the majority of US dollar and euro currency notes either are held abroad for legitimate reasons by citizens of countries where the authorities do not have a strong reputation for low and stable inflation, or are held for illegitimate reasons, both at home and abroad.
At the beginning of May 2009, the stock of euro currency notes and coin in circulation amounted to €781bn (see Table 2 for the euro notes time series). Eurozone population is just under 310 million. This would mean that, if all euro notes were held inside the Eurozone, each man, woman and child would hold just over €2,519 in cash. At the end of March 2009, the stock of US$ currency notes and coins outstanding amounted to just under US$904bn (see Table 3). With a US population of around 306 million, this means that, if all US$ currency notes were held inside the US, per capita US dollar holdings would be US$2,950.
The US Treasury (2006) estimated that in 2005 about 50 percent of the stock of US currency was held abroad (see also Rogoff (1998, 2002)). Feige et. al. (2002) report estimates that between 30 and 69 percent of DM currency used to circulate outside the borders of Germany in the final years before the introduction of euro notes in 2002. It is
unlikely that the share of euro notes held outside the euro area is significantly lower than the share of DMs held outside Germany towards the end of the DM's existence.9
Even assuming 50 percent (in value) of US dollar notes and euro notes are held abroad, it is clear that the distribution of the remaining domestically held notes is likely to be strongly skewed to the right: a small number of persons hold the vast majority of currency by value. Note from Tables 1 and 4, that the vast majority of euro and US$ currency (by value) is held in the largest denominations. At the end of March 2009, fully 75% of US dollar currency was held in 100 dollar bills – the largest denomination still issued. In April 2009, 36 percent of euro notes was held in €500 notes. The €500, €200 and €100 denominations made up 59 percent of the stock of euro notes. The true retail notes, €5, €10 and €20 just accounted for 10 percent of the total value of euro notes.
The only domestic beneficiaries from the existence of anonymity-providing currency are the underground economy – the criminal community: those engaged in tax evasion, money laundering and the financing of terrorism, and those wishing to store the proceeds from crime and the means to commit further crimes. The existence of fiat currency with legal tender status - an anonymity-providing secure store of value provided by the government – represents a subsidy to criminal (illegal/underground) activity. It is particularly surprising to find so many large denomination bank notes, because these are unlikely to be held by poor and low-income households. The usefulness of currency as a means of payment and store of
9 It is true that the euro is the domestic currency of 15 countries whose inhabitants could have held the DM as a foreign currency before the creation of the euro in 1999 (as well as of Germany). This would tend, cet. par. to make for a lower share of euro currency held outside the 16-country euro area than the share of DM currency held outside Germany, which is just one of the 16 euro area countries. Against this, the euro is already a more important official reserve currency than the DM ever was, and regional and global developments since 1999 have probably increased the demand for a safe and secure foreign currency alternative to domestic currency in many emerging markets.
value for low income households is a standard argument in defence of the continued existence of currency.
Advanced industrial countries can move to electronic and bank-account-based means of payment and media of exchange without any significant transitional problems, permanent efficiency loss or adverse distributional implications. Negative interest rates on bank accounts and on balances outstanding on 'centralised or networked electronic media' like credit cards are as easy as positive interest rates. Debit cards simply transfer money between two accounts, both of which could pay negative interest rates and don't pose a problem. You could even retain a measure of anonymity and have 'cash-on-a-chip cards', which, whenever the balance on the card is replenished by drawing funds from some account, calculate the average balance held on the cash card since the last replenishment and arrange for the appropriate interest rate (positive or negative) to be applied.
Because currency is a redundant or dominated medium of exchange/means of payment, except possibly for the smallest denominations, which may still be useful for small retail transactions (up to perhaps € 20 or US$20, say), what accounts for its continuing existence and popularity? The only rational argument I can see is that seigniorage, the resources that can be appropriated through the issuance of non-interest-bearing legal tender, is a valuable source of revenue, either for the central bank or for its beneficial owner, typically the ministry of finance or Treasury. From Table 2, over the year 2007, the Eurosystem earned €49 bn as seigniorage from the issuance of bank notes, and over 2008, as much as €86bn. From the first week of June 2007 till the first week of June 2008, US currency in circulation increased by US$10.5bn. Between the first week of June 2008 and the first week of June 2009, US currency in circulation increased by US$85.5bn.
Is it likely that the social benefits from this seigniorage revenue, together with the convenience benefits that currency still may yield when used in legitimate small retail
transactions and held in small savings balances, exceed the social costs of the incremental tax evasion, money laundering, terrorism and other criminality encouraged by the anonymity and privacy provided by currency?
Should fiat currency be abolished, the loss of these retail transactions benefits could be compensated for by offering free accounts with the central bank to all legal residents. These accounts could be administered through commercial banks, post offices and other retail facilities. These accounts, being registered instruments, could, of course, pay a positive, zero or negative rate of interest, as required.
Should the government decide to abolish government base money, it is possible that the private sector would start supplying a close functional substitute, as it did before such practices were made illegal and the government established its monopoly of currency issuance. If there were no enforceable legal prohibition against this private issuance, it would lead to the case discussed in Section 4.4 below.
By abolishing currency and introducing a close substitute on which interest, positive or negative can be paid, the authorities can remove the lower bound on the short nominal interest rate by adopting a simple rule for the nominal interest rate on money, such as the one given in equation (46). Note that if the policy-determined wedge between the two interest rates were zero,
=0, Friedman's optimal quantity of money (OQM) rule would be automatically implemented all the time (Friedman (1969)).
0 M i i ω ω = − ≥ (46)
3.2 Taxing currency
As discussed in the Introduction, paying interest, positive or negative requires individual notes (or even coins) to be identifiable as current on any interest due. With the identity of the currency unknown to the issuer of the currency, it must be possible to identify
the individual notes and coins as being up-to-date on interest due or owed. When interest is received or paid the notes must be marked somehow. Historical proposals for achieving this often involved stamping currency. Silvio Gesell (1916) is an early example of such a proposal, which was also supported by Irving Fisher (1933). In the case of conventional bearer bonds, coupons were physically clipped from the bond document or certificate.
Another variant is to give the currency note an expiration date. Unless this scrip money is stamped no later than the expiration date, it loses its legal tender status. When it is stamped, the negative interest can be collected by the issuer or his agent. Unstamped currency ceases to be recognised as money by the authorities and will thus, in the eyes of the proponents of scrip money, become worthless.
The reason this proposal is incomplete is that the value of fiat money is what people believe it to be and are willing to exchange it for. No doubt losing legal tender status might undermine people's confidence in a currency, but many financial instruments have served as means of payment, medium of exchange and store of value without having legal tender status. If enough private agents were to consider a €10 note that had expired (had not been stamped) to be worth as much as a €10 note that was current on interest (had been stamped), then the stamped and unstamped notes would indeed have the same value (exchange for the same bundles of goods and services and for each other).
So to ensure that expired (unstamped) currency does not continue to circulate on a par with current (stamped) currency, a penalty must be imposed on those caught with expired (unstamped) currency. The penalty must be sufficient to induce those holding the currency to pay the currency tax. Confiscation of the expired (unstamped) notes, or a fine would be possible enforcement mechanisms of a negative interest rate on currency. This would involve administrative costs and rather intrusive policing, possibly with random spot checks and
searches etc. Such monitoring and enforcement of negative interest rates (taxes) on currency would be a rather illiberal policy and unlikely to be popular.
An operational proposal for taxing currency mentioned by Mankiw (2009), who attributes it to one of his graduate students, appears to get around this monitoring and enforcement problem. All currency notes have a serial number ending in an integer from 0 to 9. All currency notes also should have a year printed on them (most I know of do). Once a year, on a fixed date, the central bank randomly selects an integer from 0 to 9. All currency notes ending in that integer, printed in that year or earlier, lose their legal tender status and are no longer redeemable/exchangeable at the central bank or its agents for anything else.
The expected nominal interest rate on currency is therefore -10% under this scheme, which is effectively a negative interest rate version of the British Premium Bond - a government bond that bears no interest or capital gains but enters the holder into lotteries, based on the serial number of the bond. It can also be viewed as a lottery version of putting an expiration date on all currency notes and charging 10% of face value tax on each note.
However, the Mankiw scheme falls foul of the same problem that currency with an expiration date falls foul of, unless there is external enforcement. The value of fiat money is what people think it is. If the central bank randomly selects 7 as the unlucky number this year and I own a € 100 note whose serial number ends in 7, I may still be able to purchase goods and services worth €100 with that note, provided other private agents are willing to accept it as being worth that much. Legal tender status or convertibility into other government notes at the central bank is not necessary for fiat money to have value. Some form of monitoring currency holdings and a penalty for those caught with expired currency (such as the threat of confiscation plus a fine) are likely to be necessary to make Mankiw's scheme work.
If the authorities are willing to incur the administrative and surveillance costs, and to incur the political unpopularity likely to be associated with taxing currency, they could eliminate the lower bound on the risk-free one-period nominal interest rate on non-monetary assets, by adopting a rule for the one-period own rate of interest on currency like the one specified in equation (46).
3.3 Unbundling the numéraire and the medium of exchange/means of
A third way to eliminate the lower bound on the short nominal interest rate was suggested by Eisler (1933) (see also Einaudi (1953) and Gaitskell (1969)). It involves decoupling the numéraire function from the currency, which would retain its numéraire and means of payment/medium of exchange roles. A simple way to implement this decoupling, which involves the abolition of the old government-issued fiat currency and its replacement by a new government-issued fiat currency is discussed first. Many interesting variations on this theme exist, however, and I shall introduce some of these later in Section 4.
The first step is to abolish the euro currency, by withdrawing all euro notes and coins. The next step is the introduction of a new currency, which I shall call the wim (in honour of Wim Duisenberg, the first President of the European Central Bank). The euro is kept as the numéraire for wage and price contracts. This is an assumption that leads to an interesting model only if it is plausible.
I believe that there are many ways in which, despite the abolition of physical euro currency, the authorities can encourage the continued use of the euro as numéraire. The government could require all contracts involving the state to be denominated in euro. It could present tax claims and require tax returns in euro, and require tax payments using
euro-29
denominated instruments. Going beyond that, it could ban bank deposits denominated in wim. As a last resort it could declare all wim-denominated contracts not to be enforceable in Eurozone courts.
In the model, private agents and the authorities are free to issue and hold contingent claims denominated in both wim and euro. Specifically, there are both safe one-period wim-denominated bonds and safe one-period euro-wim-denominated bonds.
As there is no longer any euro currency, there no longer is a lower bound on euro interest rates. There is a lower bound on wim interest rates, because there is wim currency. The government sets the sequence of spot exchange rates, or of spot and forward exchange rates, between the euro and the wim.
3.3.1 The private sector in the wim currency economy
The household optimisation problem changes slightly. Let * 0 t
M ≥ be the nominal stock of wim currency at the end of period t, S the period t spot exchange rate between the t euro and the wim (number of wim per euro), Ft+1,t the one-period forward exchange rate between the euro and the wim (number of wim per euro), it*+1,t the one-period safe nominal interest rate on wim-denominated bonds, itM+1,*t the one-period own rate of interest on wim currency,
* ,
I the nominal wim stochastic discount factor between periods t and 1 t , 0
t t R the real wim stochastic discount factor between periods t and 1 t , 0 P the wim general price level, *
1 1 0 0 * * , * t t t t P P
Π ≡ the wim inflation factor (1 plus the wim inflation rate to the power t1−t0) and
1 1 0 0 , t t t t S S
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text:
Beverly Fishman
Synthetic Wonderland
GAVLAK Palm Beach is proud to present a solo exhibition, "Synthetic Wonderland" by artist Beverly Fishman
(b. 1955, Philadelphia, PA). Fishman has been the Artist-in-Residence, Head of Painting at Cranbrook Academy since 1992.
This is the artists first solo show with Gavlak.
In 2012, Fishman began fabricating polychrome reliefs in wood and urethane paint, exploring the landscape of our
contemporary global relationship with drugs and the pharmaceutical industry. Drugs contest our identities, similar to
the production and consumption of art can inflict those same addictive qualities. Fishman's research into the science of
pharmaceutical companies, generic manufacturers, and illegal drug suppliers highlight the power of phenomenology of spectatorship portrayed in these reliefs.
The shapes of Fishman's wall objects, ranging from twenty-five inches to fifteen feet in size, are derived from the structures
of common pharmaceuticals (brand name and generic). Their colors reference both skin tones— sold to us through cosmetics—and the realms of technology and industry, as indicated by non- natural, industrial hues, such as those produced by fluorescent and automobile paints. Created through her combination of industrial and hand-based practices, their reflective surfaces, physical presence, and phenomenological impact make these works socially critical. Fishman wants her audiences to reflect on both the benefits and the dangers that drugs and pharmaceuticals offer us. The reliefs employ scale shifts and chromatic juxtapositions to turn tiny commodities into large signs and corporate logos that promise health, beauty, pleasure, and the transcendence of death. But as today's opioid crisis graphically demonstrates, we must be vigilant in distinguishing drugs' healthful from their harmful uses.
Mining the histories of geometric and hard-edge abstraction and re-configuring them through strategies of appropriation and references to both living bodies and seductive objects, Fishman hopes to provoke reflection on both art and society in an increasingly anxious, addicted, and divided moment. It is only by examining how we diagnostically view and medicate ourselves that we may see our way past the most pressing dangers of our time.
Beverly Fishman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1955 and currently lives and works in Michigan. She earned her BFA at Philadelphia College of Art, PA and received her MFA from Yale University, CT. Fishman has had numerous solo exhibitions in the United States and internationally, including; Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO; White Columns, New York, NY; Galerie Jean-Luc & Takao Richard, Paris, France; Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI; Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL; Wasserman Projects, Birmingham, MI; and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL. She has participated is several group exhibitions nationally and internationally from New York to London, Cologne and Paris. These include 148 Gallery, Tribeca, New York; Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI; Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, DE; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Bernard Jacobson Gallery, Basel, Switzerland; Galerie Jean-Luc & Takako Richard, Cologne, Germany; American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY, among many more.
All current exhibitions will be on view through January 29, 2019 at Gavlak Palm Beach
(340 Royal Poinciana Way, Ste M307, Palm Beach, FL 33480).
For more information concerning the exhibitions, or for press inquiries, please contact
John J. McGurk at john@gavlakgallery.com,
or 561-833-0583.
Press Release PDF
Beverly Fishman's virtual induction to National Academy of Design
Join us to celebrate this year's fifteen National Academicians and their entry into our vibrant artist- and architect-led community.
Congratulations to artist Beverly Fishman, one of the 2020 National Academicians!
On Wednesday, October 28, 2020, the National Academy of Design inducted fifteen new National Academicians. Becoming a National Academician (NA) is a lifetime honor and one that cannot be applied for or solicited. In a tradition dating back to 1825, current members confidentially nominate and elect new National Academicians each year, honoring the group's remarkable contributions to the canon and story of American art. The National Academicians of 2020 join 440 living members, with over 2,387 elected since our founding.
Beverly Fishman and Betty Tompkins Receive Award
Anonymous Was A Women Award
December 11, 2018—Anonymous Was a Woman today announced the ten recipients of its 2018 awards, which recognize women artists over 40 years of age who have made significant contributions in their fields to date, while continuing to create new work. Each recipient receives an unrestricted grant of $25,000.
New Mural by Beverly Fishman
BEVERLY FISHMAN'S ELECTRIFYING NEW MURAL IN DETROIT

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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NTPC to raise capacity to 128,000 Mw by 2032
Press Trust of India | New Delhi Last Updated at January 21, 2013 00:53 IST
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StatsGuru: 7 November 2011
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The country's largest power generator NTPC has chalked out ambitious plans to take its capacity to over 128,000 Mw by 2032.
"NTPC is currently working on many new projects for rapid capacity addition and plans to become a 128,000-Mw-plus company by 2032," CMD NTPC Arup Roy Choudhury while addressing the company's employees at a meeting here today.
The total installed capacity of NTPC is 34,854 Mw, with 15 coal-based, seven gas-based power stations and six joint-venture power projects located across India.
It is currently working on projects with a cumulative capacity of 40,000 Mw, of which 14,000 Mw is in various stages of implementation.
These plants generated 220.54 billion units (BUs) of electricity during 2010-11, contributing more than 27% of total electricity generated in India with about 18% share of country's total installed capacity, an official statement said.
The company is also welcoming suggestions from its employees for improving its management practices.
"NTPC looks forward to the suggestions of employees for incorporating better policies and systems of the company," Choudhury said.
The company recently tied up a syndicated loan worth Rs 2,341 crore from a consortium of Indian banks for its 390-Mw Muzaffarpur thermal power project in Bihar.
NTPC Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Limited, a subsidiary of NTPC Limited, has achieved financial closure on its Muzaffarpur thermal power project, consisting of two units of 195 Mw each.
The company has mobilized loans worth Rs 10,000 crore from State Bank of India this fiscal (2011-12). It has also secured a $300 million loan from Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, Singapore.
First Published: Mon, November 07 2011. 12:32 IST