随着日本央行在2月29日宣布通过存款利率启动负利率，政府债务收益大幅下降。日本政府的十年期债券的收益率已经下跌到创纪录的负0.135%，低于日本央行负0.1%的存款利率。随着日本央行购买的政府债券年增长率接近80%，很难在否认这些政策不是债务货比货的一种形式。下面我们来解释下原因。

独立的中央银行

任何自主发行货币的政府在理论上都可以无限制的发行钞票。政府要么收税要么借贷用于支出的观点仅仅是我们建立的社会法律和基础制度的一个结果。情形可能相反，但是何时印刷货币的决定权掌握在政客手中。

有人担心过度的印刷货币和之后的消费将会导致通胀，之后通胀加剧最后导致放弃该货币。更进一步，假设经济资源有限而政府无限制的印刷货币，那么政府有可能控制所有这些资源，从而排挤所有的私营企业。显然，一些人不会接受这一结果，而任何想要与政府在利用这些资源上的竞争都会抬高价格。

为了解除这些恐惧，当代政府将货币发行的权利委托给独立的中央银行，希望能把政治因素和货币政策分开。如果央行的首要目标是维持价格稳定，政府就不能指望央行为他们的运作提供资金，所以必须以来税收或者从个人手中借款。

债务货币化

个人持有政府债券意愿的大小取决于债券相对其他投资的回报和风险。政府发行任何超过其税收的债务将被认为是一个过度风险投资将会不得不支付更高的利率。因此，政府的财政政策受到市场的约束。

然而，央行有调整利率的权利。事实上，是他们在公开市场发布的利率来维持价格稳定。央行通常发布一个它认为能帮助实现通胀目标的利率，然手通过资产购买增加或者减少商业银行短期政府债券的储备以达到这个目标。

之后中央银行通过在自由市场购买政府债券可以保证低利率，从某种程度上实现政府债务货币化。然而，这些日常公开市场操作不是那些强硬派进行债务货币化的想法。他们的想法是央行使用印刷货币的权利供应政府的巨大赤字开支，使政府债务达到一个如何和是否能被清偿不确定的水平。这一举动将会引起人们疑虑央行的独立性在哪里。

总结

政府债务水平超过GDP的230%，日本是世界上负债最严重的国家。随着政府债券进入负收益率，政府在借贷中获利。日本央行通过收取私人银行的存款利息，日本央行实际上是在转移财富，把控制经济资源的能力从私人部门转移到政府部门。这相当于通过减税或者政府开支向经济中扔钱。看起来很像债务货币化。

然而，虽然强硬货币政策态度持有者的态度令人担忧，通胀实际上是日本央行的预期目标。由于通货紧缩的压力困扰着日本经济。日本央行行长Kuroda表示：“重要的是日本央行坚定的致力于是想2%的通胀目标并将尽一起努力实现这一目标。”他仍然试图维持日本央行的主要货币政策目标，碰巧日本政府是是唯一一个愿意和有能力消费的经纪机构，因此创造总需求是一个非常迫切的需要。他只是不想把他的行为称为“债务货币化”，希望人民仍然相信日本央行仍然具有至少是一部分的独立性。

How Central Banks Monetize Government Debt

By Investopedia | March 25, 2016

With the Bank of Japan’s announcement on Jan. 29 to navigate into negative interest rate territory by charging interest on reserve deposits, yields on government debt have fallen precipitously. The yield on 10-year Japanese government bondsrecently fell to a record negative 0.135%, below the BOJ’s negative 0.1% reserve deposit rate. With the BOJ purchasing government bonds at an unprecedented annual rate of approximately 80 trillion yen, it is becoming exceedingly difficult for the BOJ governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, to deny that these policies are not a form of government debt monetization. We explain why below.

Independent Central Banks

Any government that issues its own currency (e.g. not Greece) could, in theory, continue to create money without limit. The idea that governments either have to tax or borrow in order to spend is really just a consequence of the legal and institutional infrastructure we, as a society, have created. Things could be otherwise, but when the monetary printing press is in the hands of politicians, the temptation to inflate currency is strong.

There is the fear that excessive printing of money and subsequent spending will lead to inflation, then hyperinflation, and then eventual abandonment of the currency. Further, assuming the limited nature of economic resources, if the government has unlimited amounts of money, then it could potentially control all of those resources, essentially “crowding out” the private sector. Obviously, this is problematic for some, and any attempt to compete with the government in utilizing resources leads to a bidding up of the price of those resources. 

To mitigate these fears, modern governments have delegated the responsibility of money issuance to independent central banks, hoping to keep fiscal policy considerations separate from monetary policy ones. Since the primary goal of central banks is to maintain price stability (usually interpreted as low and stable inflation of around 2% a year), governments cannot depend on central banks to fund their operations and must either rely on tax revenue or, like everyone else, borrow money in private markets.

Debt Monetization

The willingness of the private sector to hold government debt will depend on the return and riskiness of that debt relative to alternative investments. Any government that issues debt far in excess of what it could collect in taxes is perceived as an excessively risky investment and will likely have to pay increasingly higher interest rates. Thus, a government’s fiscal policy has definite market constraints.

However, central banks have the power to manipulate interest rates. In fact, it is interest rates that they are targeting when they carry out their daily open market operations (OMO) to achieve price stability. The central bank typically states an interest rate target it believes will help it achieve its inflation target, and then increases or decreases the reserves of commercial banks through asset purchases – typically short-term government bonds – in order to achieve that target .

The central bank then, by purchasing government bonds in private markets can keep interest rates low, and in a sense, monetize government debt. However, these daily OMO are not what the more hawkish types have in mind when they talk about government debt monetization. What they have in mind is when central banks, by using their power to create money, accommodate massive deficit spending by the government, inflating the government’s debt to levels where it is not clear how or if it will ever be paid off. Such a move causes one to wonder how independent the central bank really is.

The Bottom Line

At a level of government debt that is more than 230% of its GDP, Japan is the most indebted nation in the world. With bond yields in negative territory, the government is now getting paid to borrow. By charging private banks interest on reserves held at the BOJ, Japan’s central bank is effectively transferring wealth, and thereby the ability to control the economy’s resources, from the private sector to the public sector. It amounts to a “helicopter drop” of new money that is channeled into the economy either through tax cuts or direct government spending. Sounds a lot like debt monetization.

Yet, while the potential for inflation is worrisome for the monetary hawks, inflation is actually Kuroda’s intended goal. With deflationary pressures plaguing the Japanese economy, Kuroda has stated, “What’s important is to show people that the BOJ is strongly committed to achieving 2 percent inflation and that it will do whatever it takes to achieve it.” He is still trying to maintain the BOJ’s primary monetary policy objective; it just so happens that the Japanese government is the only economic agent willing and able to spend, thus creating the aggregate demand that is so badly needed. He just doesn’t want to call what he is doing “debt monetization” in hopes that people will still believe that the BOJ maintains, at the very least, a modicum of independence.

本文翻译由兄弟财经提供

文章来源：http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/032516/how-central-banks-monetize-government-debt.asp