One of the most striking features of the world economy over the last twenty-five years has been the sharp decline in the real interest rate from approximately 4% in the early 1990s to -1.5% in 2013 (figure 1). During this period there have been two waves of large capital inflows into emerging economies ...

The international financial crisis and Great Recession of 2008- 09 called for a range of significant policy measures by central banks beyond aggressive interest rate cuts. Measures have ranged from improving international coordination to purchasing local private loan portfolios and direct intervention ...

The dramatic policy response to the 2008-09 global economic crisis from many countries has revived some old debates about the use of fiscal and monetary policy in fighting recessions. The central dilemma for policy-makers in Japan North America and Europe has been to try to counter a large recession ...