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 ...