7  My focus here is on the conjunctural assessment about the role of negative rates in the current euro area environment; I do not address the longer-term debate about the implications of technological changes in payments systems for the setting of policy rates.
Coeure (2016), Constancio (2016a) and Praet (2016) also provide analyses of the role of negative policy rates in the European context. 8  The interest earnings of households have declined by a similar amount. However, the cash flow gain to indebted households supports deleveraging and boosts consumption growth.