Suppose that owning the building for a year would earn you $12,000. To dedde whether or not you will be better off by owning It for one year and then selling it, you sought advice from three different people: (1) Your brother says that you should not buy the building because in one year it will cost you $200,000. (2) Your accountant says that you should definitely buy the building because you can borrow $200,000 at zero interest while the building will generate $12,000 in extra income. Then when you sell it, you will be $12,000 richer. (3) Your bookkeeper says that If you sell the building in a year, you will have to come up with more money to pay off the loan than you will make in extra income. Keeping in mind that the economy experiences deflation at the rate of 10%r who is right? Your accountant Is right, because when the nominal Interest rate is zero, you do not incur any cost when you take out a loan. Your bookkeeper is right, because the extra income you will earn will be less than the cost of owning the building for the year. Your brother is correct, because when the nominal interest rate is zero, the cost of a building is its full purchase price.
