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Private debt, monetary policy tightening and aggregate demand
As the global economy slows, inflation is subsiding on the back of tighter monetary policy. Amid historically high private debt levels in many jurisdictions, should central banks expect that the effect of interest rate hikes on aggregate demand will be amplified, so that they get more bang for the buck? And how will the characteristics and the composition of private debt affect this impact? The total private debt of households and non-financial corporations (NFCs) has trended upwards since at least the 1970s. Long-run financial deepening but also credit booms especially in the run-up to the Great Financial Crisis ... (full story)