The Efficacy of Large-Scale Asset Purchases at the Zero Lower Bound

During the recent financial crisis, the Federal Reserve took unprecedented actions to prevent the economy from collapsing. First, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) lowered the short-term federal funds rate nearly to its zero lower bound. Then, several months later, the FOMC began making large-scale purchases of long-term Treasury bonds to lower long-term interest rates by reducing the supply of long-term assets. The FOMC?s announcement of its intent led to immediate and substantial declines in the yields of long-term Treasury bonds, but some observers questioned whether such purchases could really lower long-term interest rates. ; Doh uses a preferred-habitat model that explicitly considers the zero bound for nominal interest rates. His analysis suggests that purchasing assets on a large scale can effectively lower long-term interest rates. Furthermore, when heightened risk aversion disrupts the activities of arbitrageurs, policymakers may lower long-term rates more effectively through asset purchases than through communicating their intentions to lower the expected path of future short-term rates.