Leaders | Jackson Hole

Central banks should make clear what QE is for, and then reverse it

Monetary policy has become a muddle

ON AUGUST 26TH central bankers will gather for their annual Jackson Hole jamboree with the shine having come off their record. A year ago they had forestalled a financial crisis during the pandemic’s first wave. Today an inflation surge has made a mockery of the Federal Reserve’s forecasts; a parliamentary committee has said that the Bank of England has a “dangerous addiction” to buying bonds; and everybody expects the European Central Bank (ECB) to undershoot, over a period of years, its shiny new “symmetric” inflation target of 2%, unveiled in July.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Bringing clarity to QE”

Biden’s debacle: What it means for Afghanistan and America

From the August 21st 2021 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Leaders

Four test tubes in the shape of human figures, connected hand in hand, partially filled with a blue liquid. A dropper adds some liquid to the last figure

How to improve clinical trials

Involving more participants can lead to new medical insights

Container ship at sunrise in the Red Sea

Houthi Inc: the pirates who weaponised globalisation

Their Red Sea protection racket is a disturbing glimpse into an anarchic world


Donald Trump will upend 80 years of American foreign policy

A superpower’s approach to the world is about to be turned on its head


Rising bond yields should spur governments to go for growth

The bond sell-off may partly reflect America’s productivity boom

Much of the damage from the LA fires could have been averted

The lesson of the tragedy is that better incentives will keep people safe