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  3. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics
  4. October 2019
  5. "Whatever It Takes" Is All You Need: Monetary Policy and Debt Fragility

"Whatever It Takes" Is All You Need: Monetary Policy and Debt Fragility

  • Antoine Camous
  • Russell Cooper
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics
vol. 11, no. 4, October 2019
(pp. 38-81)
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Abstract

The valuation of government debt is subject to strategic uncertainty. Pessimistic lenders, fearing default, bid down the price of debt, leaving a government with a higher debt burden. This increases the likelihood of default, thus confirming the pessimism of lenders. Can monetary interventions mitigate debt fragility? With one-period commitment to a state-contingent policy, the monetary authority can indeed overcome strategic uncertainty. Under discretion, debt fragility remains unless reputation effects are sufficiently strong. Simpler forms of interventions, such as an inflation target, cannot eliminate debt fragility.

Citation

Camous, Antoine, and Russell Cooper. 2019. ""Whatever It Takes" Is All You Need: Monetary Policy and Debt Fragility." American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 11 (4): 38-81. DOI: 10.1257/mac.20170167

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • E31 Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
  • E43 Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
  • E52 Monetary Policy
  • E62 Fiscal Policy
  • G01 Financial Crises
  • H63 National Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
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