What Future for Unconventional Monetary Policies
IMF Blog, November 2, 2015
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Maurice Obstfeld
- Published: November 2, 2015
Framing questions and context
- Publication date: November 2, 2015.
- Key questions posed:
- How quickly should the United States tighten monetary policy and exit from quantitative easing?
- Is the neutral real interest rate lower than before the crisis?
- Should we raise inflation targets?
- What can we learn from the unconventional policies that emerging markets adopted during the crisis?
- Are we entering an environment of global deflation? And if so, can the existing central bank toolkit stave off that threat?
- Contextual observations:
- "Seven years after the crisis, the effects of unconventional monetary policies continue to be a matter of debate."
- There is little consensus about both the effectiveness of these policies in promoting aggregate demand and about possible unintended side effects on financial stability.
- Emerging market economies have felt spillovers from both the global financial crisis and unconventional monetary policies in advanced economies, often adopting their own unconventional credit and foreign-exchange policies; the effectiveness of those policies remains subject to debate.
- The profession faces the challenge of understanding the risks of policy normalization and monetary policy divergence as monetary policies in major currency areas head in opposite directions.
Purpose and goals of the Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference
- Conference title: “Unconventional Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies”.
- Conference dates: November 5-6, 2015.
- Stated aims:
- Take stock of outstanding policy questions about unconventional monetary policies.
- Gain a better understanding of the mechanisms at play and the tools available to policymakers.
- Map the way forward on:
- How unconventional monetary policies work.
- Their interactions with other policies.
- Their domestic side effects, including risks to financial stability.
- Their spillovers to other countries.
- The future of these policy tools.
- The consequences of unconventional policies in emerging market economies.
Program highlights and participants
- Program scale and composition:
- The conference will feature thirteen excellent papers and discussants.
- Keynote and lectures:
- Ben S. Bernanke, former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, will give the keynote Mundell-Fleming lecture, discussing aspects of the effects of United States monetary policy on the global economy, including so-called "currency wars", financial spillovers, and the dollar’s role.
- Concluding policy panel:
- Claudio Borio (BIS)
- Lael Brainard (Federal Reserve)
- Paul Krugman (City University of New York and New York Times)
- Adam Posen (Peterson Institute for International Economics)
Access, dissemination, and participation
- Attendance invitation: Readers are encouraged to attend and contribute to the discussion.
- Remote access:
- The papers will be available online.
- Webcast availability: the Mundell-Fleming Lecture and the Economic Forum will be webcast at www.imf.org.
- Social media: follow the conference on Twitter at #ARCPOLAK.
Institutional note
- IMFBlog description: IMFBlog is a forum for the views of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff and officials on pressing economic and policy issues of the day.
- IMF identity: The IMF, based in Washington D.C., is an organization of 191 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation and financial stability around the world.
- Attribution of views: "The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF and its Executive Board."
Source: What Future for Unconventional Monetary Policies, Maurice Obstfeld, November 2, 2015.