Abstract: Since the negative interest rate policy came into being, its effectiveness has attracted quite different opinions from all sectors of society. Based on the annual economic data of 33 control group countries or regions in the Euro area from 2008 to 2016, this paper applies the synthetic control method to evaluate the implementation effect of the negative interest rate policy in the Euro area from the two perspectives of inflation and economic growth. The results show that the NIRP in the Euro area has not significantly improved inflation and economic growth. It suggests that the effects of NIRP in the Euro area in promoting economic growth is very limited; the monetary authorities should not rely on this kind of non-conventional means of negative interest rate only, but also should take full advantage of other operational tools of monetary policy and adopt appropriate fiscal policies.

Key words: Euro area; negative interest rate policy; synthetic control method