There are a few episodes of negative nominal interest

rates around the world. Some may or may not be in play

as you read this book. The Swiss nominal policy rate, the

Swiss equivalent of the federal funds rate is series IRST-

CI01CHM156N from the FRED database maintained at

the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The Swiss nominal

policy rate was negative in 2014 and 2015. If so, why not

hold cash instead of bonds? In the United States, the Federal

Reserve has not (yet) set the nominal policy rate below zero.