Monetary policymakers are often afraid of falling into a deflationary spiral. In harsh economic times, such as deep economic recessions or depressions, people and businesses tend to hold on to their cash while they wait for the economy to improve. This behavior, however, can weaken the economy further as a lack of spending causes further job losses, lower profits, and price drops—all of which reinforce people’s fears, giving them even more incentive to hoard. As spending slows even more, prices drop again, creating another incentive for people to wait as prices fall further, and so on. When central banks have already lowered interest rates to zero, the NIRP is a way to incentivize corporate borrowing and investment and discourage hoarding of cash.