A Spectral Perspective on Natural Interest Rates in Asia-Pacific

Book excerpt: I study the evolution of the equilibrium real interest rate, also known as the natural or neutral interest rate, in Asia-Pacific. Simple estimates based on a statistical approach suggest that, except for China, and Thailand since 2005, the natural interest rate may have declined substantially in Asia-Pacific economies since the early or mid-1990s, by over 4 percentage points on average. In many economies the rate has turned negative. The tendency has become more accentuated in the 2000s, especially following the onset of the Global Financial Crisis. The natural interest rate appears to vary significantly over time and across economies. Nevertheless, simple natural interest rate estimates are unreliable, and large uncertainties and sizeable heterogeneity in the estimates of the equilibrium real interest rate call for caution as well as monetary policy rules which are robust to such uncertainties. I use frequency-domain techniques to examine the relationship between the long-run component of real interest rate and those of population characteristics, globalisation, and a range of macroeconomic and financial variables (eg credit and asset prices). I estimate spectral and cospectral densities, coherency and the frequency-specific coefficients of correlation and regression proposed by Zhu (2005). The association seems to be broad and strong between the natural interest rate and the low-frequency trend components of demographic and global factors in AsiaPacific, but weak between the natural interest rate and trends in asset prices, creditto-GDP ratio and trend growth in many economies in the region. In most cases, the natural interest rate seems to be correlated with broad measures of long-term financial sector development, and trends in savings rate and investment ratio. Understanding the underlying factors driving changes in each economy's natural interest rate is important for the correct calibration and implementation of monetary policy.Full Publication: 'http://ssrn.com/abstract=2861007' Expanding the Boundaries of Monetary Policy in Asia and the Pacific.