Mr. Motomura (Japan) considered that the criterion of zero nominal growth should have governed the preparation of the programme budget.

As for the 2006 2007 regular budget, Mexico had expressed its preference in the Programme and Budget Committee for a nominal zero growth budget.

The principle of zero nominal growth in the proposed 2006 2007 programme budget was difficult to reconcile with the new challenges facing the Organization.

The regular budgets of the specialized agencies, based on assessed contributions, have been locked at historically low levels because of the application of zero or no nominal growth policies.

States which advocated conditions such as budget ceilings and zero nominal growth before they would approve reduced budgets which failed to meet the Organization's needs were showing the true extent of their political will.

The zero lower bound arises because nominal interest rates cannot fall below zero. But if nominal interest rates stay positive, while inflation is negative, then real interest rates may become too high for an economy in recession, causing recession to become more severe and prolonged.

Europe as a whole is barely above zero growth, with large variations among countries, though with some evidence of painful re convergence, at least in terms of nominal unit labor costs. China s growth, meanwhile, is leveling off at 7 , with other developing countries preparing for higher interest rates.

We should bear in mind the need to obtain the most efficient and optimal results, as the resources dedicated to any of these mandates are finite and inelastic, especially in an era of zero nominal growth in most United Nations budget lines.

The General Assembly had adopted no resolution approving the zero nominal growth approach and the Secretariat should therefore present proposals based on the real needs of the Organization and inform the Assembly of the actual total of resources allocated for 2006 2007.

When you hold a checking or current account in your bank at a zero interest rate as most people do in advanced economies the real return is negative (the nominal zero return minus inflation) a year from now, your cash balances buy you less goods than they do today. And if you consider the fees that many banks impose on these accounts, the effective nominal return was already negative even before central banks went for negative nominal rates.

From about the beginnings of humanity to 1500 zero economic growth, nothing.

Yet there are reasons to fear that there will be such a decline slower growth means fewer competitive pressures for heightened efficiency diminished risk tolerance means a lower appetite for innovation and experimentation and nominal interest rates pinned at the zero lower bound means that society s savings cannot be used effectively.

Given the depreciation of the United States dollar against the euro over the past two years, the near zero growth in euro terms leads, in United States dollar terms, to a nominal increase of 22.0 per cent at the time of preparation of this budget proposal (see paragraph 10 above).

Now, I explained this growth of complexity by reference to something called non zero sumness.

Strictly speaking, zero rates are observed only for nominal, medium term debt that is perceived to be riskless. But, throughout the eurozone, rates are close to zero and negative for a substantial share of government debt and are expected to remain low for quite some time.

For example, ordinary citizens could be allowed zero interest transactions balances (up to a limit). Presumably, nominal interest rates would move into negative territory only in response to a deep deflationary crisis.

For Greece, with an overall deficit of 4.1 of GDP and a debt GDP ratio of 170 , the debt ratio would fall if the combination of inflation and real (inflation adjusted) GDP growth exceeded 2.4 . Stated differently, now that Greece has achieved a zero primary budget deficit, its debt burden will decline if its nominal growth rate exceeds the average interest that it pays on its government debt.

( OF NOMINAL GDP)

What would help is if their nominal disposable income rose relative to their (fixed) debt service. Yet, with high levels of unemployment likely to keep nominal wage growth relatively subdued, typical troubled households could be worse off with higher food and fuel prices cutting into disposable income.

But real interest rates did not fall enough, because nominal interest rates cannot go below zero. By increasing inflation, the Fed would turn real interest rates seriously negative, thereby coercing thrifty households into spending instead of saving.

Currently, there were fewer officers than in 1987 owing to attrition over the years of zero growth and budget reductions.

A zero growth budget would not have been realistic, because the Organization needed adequate resources to fulfil its new mandates.

A very low or even negative nominal interest rate could produce a positive real return for a saver, if prices fall sufficiently. In fact, Japanese savers have been benefiting from this phenomenon for more than a decade, reaping higher real returns than their counterparts in the US, even though Japan s near zero nominal interest rates are much lower than America s.

The problem now is that the natural interest rate that is, the liquid safe nominal interest rate on short term US Treasury securities is less than zero. Thus, the central bank cannot push the market interest rate there.

If nominal interest rates are lower than the real return on investment associated with GDP growth the result is financial repression and increased income and wealth inequality. To avoid this outcome, as long as China s GDP growth exceeds that of OECD economies, its nominal interest rates must also be higher, its exchange rate must be more flexible, and it must tolerate higher structural inflation.

The proposals, involving an amount of 15,506,500 euros were based on an evolutionary approach and guided by the principle of zero growth.

Global Zero at Ground Zero

(1) Fome Zero (Zero Hunger Program)

Although much was being done with a zero growth budget, much more could be accomplished with larger contributions from Member States and their institutions.

The two numbers are zero as in zero footprint or zero oil and scale it infinity.

But if the best way to reduce sovereign over indebtedness is to achieve higher nominal GDP growth (the combination of real growth and inflation), cutting investment a key ingredient in a pro growth strategy is not a sound approach. Instead, budget rules should segregate public investment, thereby facilitating a differential response in fiscal consolidation.

Greece s nominal debt stock will matter only once the country re enters the debt markets and becomes subject to market, not concessional, borrowing terms. In the meantime, Greece must implement the structural reforms needed to restore the country s long term growth prospects and thus to strengthen its capacity to repay its creditors without a large nominal debt reduction.

It's about zero sum and non zero sum games.

Zero.

Deflation is dangerous as it leads to a liquidity trap nominal policy rates cannot fall below zero, so monetary policy becomes ineffective. Falling prices mean that the real cost of capital is high and the real value of nominal debts rise, leading to further declines in consumption and investment and thus setting in motion a vicious circle in which incomes and jobs are squeezed further, aggravating the fall in demand and prices.

The foremost is that if we're blank slates, then, by definition, we are equal, because zero equals zero equals zero.

First, the falling price level would raise the real value of the debts that households and firms owe, making them poorer and reducing their willingness to spend. Second, negative inflation means that real interest rates rise, because central banks cannot lower the nominal interest rate below zero.

Moreover, even if prices on average exhibit some downward flexibility, deflation necessarily increases the real rate of interest, given that nominal interest rates cannot fall below zero. The result is an increase in the cost of capital to firms, which lowers investment and exacerbates the crisis.

I think Bob Hall has a better read on what is going on quot With allowance for other factors holding back GDP growth during those wars, the multiplier linking government purchases to GDP may be in the range of 0.7 to 1.0... but higher values are not ruled out.... Multipliers are higher perhaps around 1.7  when the nominal interest rate is at its lower bound of zero, as it was during 2009... (and is today).

The degree of financial repression in a country can be estimated by calculating the gap between the average nominal GDP growth rate and the average long term interest rate, with a larger gap indicating more severe repression. In the last 20 years, this gap has been eight percentage points for China, compared to roughly four percentage points on average for emerging economies and nearly zero for most developed economies, where interest rates are fully liberalized.

I think Bob Hall has a better read on what is going on With allowance for other factors holding back GDP growth during those wars, the multiplier linking government purchases to GDP may be in the range of 0.7 to 1.0... but higher values are not ruled out.... Multipliers are higher perhaps around 1.7 when the nominal interest rate is at its lower bound of zero, as it was during 2009... (and is today).

Zero is Zero, a little hero of the 21st Century, and Zero can touch so many more people than I possibly could.

Contract extensions were usually decided after the Operations Review Board had rejected repeated requests for additional posts, in line with the policy of zero growth in post numbers.

To get pensions down by one percentage point of GDP, nominal economic growth of just 4 per year for two years would suffice with no further cuts. Why not have credible measures to achieve that goal?

Pang Zero