The orange line shows that real interest rates on deposits, in the advanced countries, were significantly negative throughout most of the post-war boom.

BBC: Business

Carmen Reinhart of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Belen Sbrancia of the University of Maryland calculate that average real rates on deposits and Treasury bills were negative throughout the 1945-80 period in advanced economies.

ECONOMIST: The bond market: To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield | The