Negative interest rates

A modern development that would have surprised economists from earlier eras, negative rates mean that investors are in effect charged for lending, or depositing, their money. They emerged in the wake of the 2007-09 financial crisis, as central banks found new ways to ease monetary policy. Investors had a number of reasons for tolerating negative yields on government bonds; they might face bigger losses investing elsewhere; falling prices could make negative rates positive in real terms; and holding their money in cash (banknotes) was impractical. See also zero lower bound. And see this article for more.