In recent years the strong response of Central Banks to the weak economic conditions has pushed Monetary Policy to explore uncharted territories. As the phase of low inflation and low natural rates extend over time, major Central Banks are in the process of reviewing their strategies, a process that turns out to be extremely challenging in light of the sudden advent of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the effort to provide a sound scientific background to those strategies, we aim at answering to the following questions:
- Which are the relevant channels of the Monetary Policy transmission mechanism?
- How strong and long-lasting are the effects of Monetary Policy?
- Are there any long-run consequences of persistently low nominal interest rates?
- What are the limits of Monetary Policy?
- Are there undesired or unexpected effects from QE?
- What are the long-run implications of the massive monetary expansion triggered by the coronavirus pandemic?