Negative Real Rates Aren't Reversing Anytime Soon
About the only thing that could push them back into positive territory is a big infrastructure dealin Congress.
What will it take to get negative real interest rates back above zero?
Photographer: Bloomberg
The collapse in real interest rates to below zero means the U.S. government is being paid to borrow and spend. This is obviously rare, but that doesn’t mean the situation will soon reverse. Absent a low probability event like mass civil unrest or a balance of payments crisis, about the only thing could spur real rates to turn positive would be a massive infrastructure plan by the government.
Now would seem an ideal time for the government to borrow and spend to fix the nation’s increasingly creaky infrastructure. The World Economic Forum ranks the U.S. 13th in the world in terms of the quality of infrastructure, well behind places like Singapore, Switzerland and Germany. But although there is bi-partisan support for additional infrastructure spending, plans put forth by both Republicans and Democrats are too small to move the needle in terms of boosting economic growth by enough to meaningfully push real interest rates, or those after accounting for inflation, back above zero.