On November 28, 2024, at 2:00 pm, the 36th Forum on Digital Technology and Economic Finance Frontiers was successfully held. The theme of the lecture was "Negative interest Rate Policy under the Digital currency of the Central Bank", and the guest speaker was Associate Professor Pengfei Jia from the Business School of Nanjing University.The lecture was chaired by Yonghao Xu, Associate Professor of the Finance School and researcher of the Innovation and Talent Base for Digital Technology and Finance. More than 30 teachers and students from the School of Finance participated in this lecture.

First of all, on behalf of the faculty and students of the School of Finance, Associate Professor Yonghao Xu extended a warm welcome to Associate Professor Pengfei Jia, and made a brief introduction to Associate Professor Pengfei Jia and his work direction in related fields.

At the beginning of the lecture, Associate Professor Pengfei Jia first introduced the negative interest rate policy as one of the non- traditional monetary policies, and elaborated on its significance to alleviate low inflation and improve economic growth. By comparing the exploration of CBDC Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in various countries, Professor Jia pointed out that the introduction of CBDC can effectively increase the money supply in the market and stimulate economic activities, so as to overcome the zero lower bound on interest rates and achieve negative interest rate monetary policy.

Secondly, by reviewing the existing literature related to CBDC and  negative  interest rate policy, Professor Jia summarized and constructed a two-period OLG model including competitive firms, monopolistic banks and central banks to explore the impact of the model on market interest rates in the case of only cash or CBDC respectively. At the same time, the variable construction and model solving process are explained in detail, and the promotion effect of CBDC on negative interest rate policy and the influence of CBDC growth rate on deposit and loan interest rate are visually demonstrated by numerical simulation.

Then, Associate Professor Pengfei Jia summarized the research conclusions of the paper, and once again emphasized the importance of CBDC to break through the zero interest rate limit in traditional economics. According to Associate Professor Pengfei Jia, CBDC can be used as an effective tool to help the central bank expand domestic demand, stimulate economic activities and promote a virtuous cycle of the economy.

Finally, during the interactive exchange session, the students responded enthusiastically and asked questions actively, and the atmosphere was relaxed and active. Several students had an in-depth discussion with Associate Professor Pengfei Jia on the monetary transmission mechanism and the impact of negative interest rate policy.

The forum came to an end with Associate Professor Yonghao Xu's wonderful summary. The participating teachers and students all said they benefited a lot. At this point, the lecture was successfully concluded.

Speaker Introduction

Pengfei Jia is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the School of Business, Nanjing University. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Manchester, UK, and serves as an Associate Researcher at the Institute for Higher Education Research, UK. He has conducted short-term research at the Monetary and Economic Department of the Bank for International Settlements. His main research areas include macroeconomics, monetary economics, central bank digital currencies, macroprudential policies, fiscal policies, and international finance. His research has been published in various domestic and international academic journals such as European Economic Review, Macroeconomic Dynamics, Journal of Macroeconomics, B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, Economics Letters, Economic Research Journal, Chinese Journal of Quantitative & Technical Economics, Finance & Trade Economics, China Soft Science, and Internal Documents of Chinese Social Sciences. His papers have been reprinted in full by Higher Education Humanities and Social Sciences Abstracts and People's University Reprint Series. He has led and participated in multiple National Natural Science Foundation of China and National Social Science Fund projects. His research achievements have won the Second Prize of the 9th Award for Outstanding Scientific Research Achievements in Higher Education Institutions (Humanities and Social Sciences) by the Ministry of Education, the First Prize of the 13th Award for Outstanding Social Science Achievements in Jilin Province, the Second Prize of the 17th Award for Outstanding Achievements in Philosophy and Social Sciences in Jiangsu Province, and the 6th Hong Yinxing Economics Award.

Frontier Forum for Digital Technology and Finance introduction

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic acceleration in a digital revolution in economic sectors and a rapid adoption of the new generation of information technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, big data, etc. These technologies effectively set off the digital economy. It has become a key driving force in creating global economic growth, improving the modernization level of governance capabilities, and promoting high-quality economic development in China. In particular, digital finance is the most important part of the digital economy. To explore the development direction of the cross-integration of digital technology and finance, the Innovation and Talent Base for Digital Technology and Finance is hosting the “Frontier Forum for Digital Technology and Finance”, in collaboration with the School of Finance, Wenlan School of Business, Economics School, School of Information and Safety Engineering, School of Statistics and Mathematics, School of Public Finance and Taxation of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL). This lecture series will invite the well-known scholars at home and abroad in digital technology, digital economy, digital finance, and other related fields as guest speakers, providing an open and cutting-edge academic exchange platform for interdisciplinary research on digital technology and finance.