How Quantitative Easing Works: Evidence on the Refinancing Channel

When and How To Exit Quantitative Easing?

S ince the onset of the financial crisis in late 2007, the Federal Reserve has injected an astronomical amount of money into the economy through its large-scale asset purchase (LSAP) programs. According to former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke (2009, p. 5), the essence of LSAP is “credit easing” (CE)—that is, reducing the cost of private borrowing by direct purchases of privately issued debt instead...

Qualitative Easing: How it Works and Why it Matters

This paper is about the effectiveness of qualitative easing; a government policy that is designed to mitigate risk through central bank purchases of privately held risky assets and their replacement by government debt, with a return that is guaranteed by the taxpayer. Policies of this kind have recently been carried out by national central banks, backed by implicit guarantees from national trea...

How to Create a Recovery through ‘ Quantitative Monetary Easing

(1) The necessary condition for an economic recovery is the new creation of purchasing power. Non-performing loans form an obstacle to the banks’ ability to create this purchasing power, and this is the root cause of the recession. (2) At the present time the central bank alone is able to increase purchasing power. It is necessary that it engages in open market purchases of assets and active fo...

The Macroeconomic Effects of Quantitative Easing

Quantitative Easing and Financial Stability∗

The massive expansion of central-bank balance sheets in response to recent crises raises important questions about the effects of such “quantitative easing” policies, both their effects on financial conditions and on aggregate demand (the intended effects of the policies), and their possible collateral effects on financial stability. The present paper compares three alternative dimensions of ce...