In the crisis stage of a debt deflation, defined by Fisher and Minsky as a reduction in debt financing, credit and money market panic causes banks to stop lending and borrowing from each other, pay off existing loans to shore up their balance sheets, and build reserves against expected future losses. This creates a short term spike in demand for the currency in which the debt is denominated, in the current case dollars. To the uninitiated, this looks like monetary deflation. A strengthening currency and falling interest rates also characterizes monetary deflation. That can in time produce commodity price deflation, so the confusion is understandable. But don't be fooled.
Read full story
