Re:Why Falling Prices Are Actually a Really Bad Thing
by icebraining on Thursday January 22, 2015 @11:53AM
(#8930165)
Your loans would become more expensive, certainly. It's still not correct to say that the "mortgage payments are not going to go down", which is what I replied to. They would - to a certain point, at least.
So in the EU interest rates are pegged to salary? Can it go negative? Because that's what needs to happen for loans under deflation to make sense. Your effective interest rate in a deflationary economy is deflation rate + interest rate. If you take out a 2% loan with 2% deflation your effectively paying 4% rates. The higher the deflation, the worse your rates become.
Now, if interest can go negative, then borrowing under deflation makes sense. But lending doesn't. Because the lender would be handing over money that would be more valuable kept under a mattress than loaned out at a negative interest rate.