The Fed Should Cut Interest Rates Soon

Narayana Kocherlakota thinks the Fed needs to respond to the coronavirus pandemic by reducing interest rates:

The outbreak has triggered a huge burst of risk aversion in financial markets. We should expect that risk aversion to manifest itself as a drag on household and business spending on travel and many other services. There is, of course, the possibility that this risk aversion continues to grow, creating its own negative dynamic: As consumers and businesses respond to alarming events, they pull back, causing growth to slow still more.

This cycle is why the economic threat from the virus is so unnerving. If the cycle develops, it would represent an adverse demand shock that will weigh on businesses’ willingness to hire and raise prices. The appropriate monetary policy response, of course, is to ease interest rates.

I think Kocherlakota is right—though perhaps not for the reason he outlines. At this point, we still don’t know how strongly the coronavirus outbreak will affect the US economy. It’s unclear if rate cuts are appropriate yet, and under normal circumstances I might favor waiting a bit longer before making a decision.

However, even before the outbreak there was a good case to be made for at least a modest reduction in interest rates. So even if the coronavirus outbreak turns out to have only a small effect on the economy, a rate cut is probably a good idea anyway. The added benefit of demonstrating that the Fed is willing to deal aggressively with a public health emergency is just gravy.

So yes: cut interest rates soon. The upside might be high and the downside is almost certainly low.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate