Japan’s low interest rate policy began 30 years ago, about 15 years earlier than in the EU. But three decades of low interest rate policy meant three lost decades for Japan. In an interview with Stefan Beig, economist Gunther Schnabl explains why the low interest rate policy is so damaging to prosperity.
At first it seemed as if the new President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde would simply continue the loose monetary policy of her predecessor. But now she has announced a green policy shift. This marks the beginning of a whole new act in the euro drama.
Many economists, policymakers, and central banks are afraid of deflation. Generally speaking, they do not even distinguish between different causes of price deflation—i.e. between price deflation caused by growth and price deflation caused by contractions in credit. In this interview, the economist Phillipp Bagus says that these fears of deflation are misguided.
Every year the Oxfam report makes sensational headlines. The tenor: global inequality is increasing. 26 billionaires would own as much as the 3.8 billion poorest people in the world. Leading inequality specialist Branko Milanović unmasks Oxfam’s alarmism as misleading.
