Interest rates in many countries, particularly in the core advanced economies, have been persistently low for more than a decade now. In some jurisdictions, policy rates have even been in negative territory for several years. Yet, despite these very low rates and aggressive monetary policy easing, the strength of the economy has been, on balance, disappointing since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC). In major advanced economies, post-GFC real GDP has trailed well below its extrapolated pre-GFC trajectory, following a flatter trend. At the same time, inflation has tended to languish below target, at least until the ... (full story)