Quantitative Easing and Tightening : Lessons After the Financial Crisis

Quantitative Easing was an important policy tool implemented in response to the prolonged periods of low growth and low inflation after the 2008 financial crisis. This book gives an overview of how this policy was implemented, how effective it was, and how expensive it turned out to be.

Quantitative easing (QE) is a relatively new form of monetary policy whereby a central bank buys up government bonds and other financial assets to stimulate economic activity. It came to prominence in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-11 when standard monetary policy tools were unavailable to central banks due to low inflation levels. Quantitative tightening (QT) is the opposite whereby central banks sell off bonds and assets to reduce the size of their balance sheets. Quantitative Easing and Tightening brings together leading academics and practitioners to assess the legacy of quantitative easing and look at where new quantitative tightening measures may take us. It examines three of the most important actors in the QE/QT story: the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve to provide an overview of the effectiveness, governance, and fiscal costs of quantitative easing and tightening.