4 For a formal treatment of how a relaxation of the lower bound affects future rate distributions and the yield curve,  see Lemke. and Vladu (2017). For an example of a study that uses loan-level data to confirm that NIRP works through a portfolio rebalancing channel and also incentives banks to rebalance their portfolios from liquid assets to credit, see Bottero, Minoiu, Peydro, Polo, Presbitero and Sette (2019). 5 For example, see Brunnermeier and Koby (2018). 6 See Cœuré (2019). 7 For a more in-depth discussion of those channels and an empirical assessment, see ECB (2019b). 8 See Draghi (2019). 9 For some examples, see the following studies: Albertazzi, Altavilla, Boucinha, and Di Maggio (2018); Altavilla,  Canova, and Ciccarelli (2016); and Benetton and Fantino (2018). 10 18 / 19  BIS central bankers' speeches  10 See Demiralp, Eisenschmidt, and Vlassopoulos (2019). 11 See Altavilla, Carboni, and Motto (2015). 12 The macroeconomic impact reported in Rostagno et al. (2019) is broadly comparable with that in ECB (2019b)  over a comparable period. 13 For more details, see ECB (2019a). 19 / 19  BIS central bankers' speeches
In view of the existence of political barriers to international trade, the flow of capital and goods was equally as possible one hundred years ago as it is today. It goes without saying, however, that as a result of the rapid development of technology, especially in the ICT area, which drastically lowered the cost of the said exchange, the international integration of trade, investment, financial and other services is now more advanced than it has ever been before. In recent years globalization “tail wind”, mainly through increasing competition, productivity and growing imports from low-cost countries, helped to reduce inflation in CEE countries. HICP inflation in the region 2 fell from average 7.7 percent in the years 1997-2000 to 3.8 in 2001-2006. It led to a prolonged period of very low nominal and real interest rates. Nominal interest rates (average for CEE countries with flexible exchange rate regimes) have fallen from 8.8 percent during 2002-2005 to 5.4 during 2006-2007. Real rates decreased from 3.0 to 1.7 in the same period. This in turn helped to accelerate credit growth and fuelled asset bubbles. The amount of loans granted to households increased 3.5 times since 2004 and almost 10 times since 2000. Low deposit rates and economic upturn in CEE after EU accession encouraged both financial institutions and individuals to move toward more risky forms of investment. As a result, real estate prices soared after 2004 and equities listed on stock exchanges reached historical highs.