Negative interest rate
A negative interest rate monetary policy is imposed by Illuminatia's Office of the Central Bank (OCB) as a technique intended to encourage more-even distribution of wealth in the Illuminatian economy and discourage wealth hoarding. The negative interest rate has stimulated investment in business, jobs, and infrastructure while deterring accumulation of excessive idle monetary wealth.
Under the OCB's system, wealth in monetary form that sits idle in the long term loses value as it is assessed interest, while wealth that is in a fluid state of redistribution is not affected by the negative interest rate.
The negative interest rate is progressive in relation to the magnitude of monetary assets in a given Monetary Network account. Small amounts of money are not assessed negative interest, while increasingly large sums of cash get assessed an increasingly negative interest rate. The smallest of Monetary Unit deposits are subject to the smallest negative interest, allowing individual citizens of limited means to accumulate the necessary wealth to pursue typical life goals. Meanwhile, large deposits accrue the largest negative interest rate, discouraging individuals and corporations of excessive means from holding their wealth in liquid monetary form and instead encouraging them to invest excess money in non-monetary assets or to cause the money to otherwise continue flowing through the Illuminatian economy. The more money a depositor accumulates, the more quickly the deposits lose value due to the negative interest rate.
Illuminatian economists have found the negative interest rate compounds the value realized by monetary wealth by investing in and improving community and society, and that this value generated in the community has a tendency to far outpace the value the equivalent mass of sedentary monetary assets would otherwise represent.
The Office of the Central Bank enforces the negative interest rate on the Monetary Network deposits of all banks. The Office of the Monetary Network (OMN) ensures that all Monetary Unit transactions take place using the Monetary Network, so the network provides a central location where the OCB can ensure the negative interest rate is enacted according to its requirements and that this monetary policy is imposed upon all depositors. This collaboration among agencies of the Department of Monetary Policy (DMP) ensures the monetary deposits of all individuals, organizations, and corporations are subject to the negative interest rate.
High net-worth individuals
The negative interest rate, in addition to Illuminatia's prohibition on inheritance, discourages intergenerational accumulation of monetary wealth, a societal ill remembered from modern Earthly history and which Illuminatia's founders wished not to be perpetuated within this new world. High net-worth individuals are uncommon, as persons of excessive means find it incredibly costly to maintain a high net worth. Individuals might strategically acquire non-monetary assets that are unlikely to diminish in value over time, but people tend to find this difficult to do without engaging in business and establishing corporations, a behavior which is encouraged in the Illuminatian economy.
Corporations
Corporations are encouraged to let money flow out of their Monetary Network accounts in the form of wages for employees and hiring of services from providers, as the value realized from labor and receipt of services far outstrips the value of accumulated monetary assets which loves value deposited in bank accounts.
This monetary policy also encourages corporate entities to remain small, dissuading the establishment of behemoth corporations and reducing the potential for monopolies and anticompetitive corporate behavior.
Financial institutions and monetary deposits
The negative interest rate encourages the distribution of wealth through lending. Banks pay borrowers to be lent money as the result of an established technique allowing banks to minimize the liability of monetary assets that might collect under their custody. Borrowers are often encouraged to pay back less than what they borrowed. This high accessibility to lending works as an additional incentive for entities to invest capital in enterprise, infrastructure, employment, and other activities that encourage the flow of money through the economy.
Negative interest rate monetary policy more strongly benefits private citizens, who are likely to have smaller sums of liquid monetary assets on hand. It also allows for the domination of small banks in the financial industry. Small banks are also likely to have smaller sums of money in their accounts and are assessed accordingly, as opposed to large banks which are assessed a much more unfavorable negative interest rate.