Lessons from Quantitative Easing: Much ado about so little?

Abstract

It remains difficult to measure the impact of the different episodes of quantitative easing (QE) undertaken since 2008 in the major advanced economies (the US, the UK and Japan). One can clearly discern QE in the expansion of the balance sheets of the central banks concerned, but the impact on (long-term) interest rates is difficult to isolate, given the global trend towards lower rates and the high degree of co-movement across major currency areas. For example, in the US, QE is credited with a strong fall in interest rates, but rates have also fallen as much in the euro area without the stimulus of QE until now. This simple finding implies that the studies that neglect the global trend might mistakenly credit QE with a fall in interest rates which was global and would have occurred anyway. This argument is compatible with the evidence of a strong impact of QE on the exchange rate is also spotty. Moreover, the available academic studies find substantial impact when financial markets were in turmoil in 2008-09, but much smaller effects from the later QE operations. The medium-term impact of QE on growth and inflation seems to have been modest. It is too early to estimate the cost of exiting or reversing QE. The logic of the arguments for QE implies that the cost should be equal to the benefits of undertaking QE in the first place.