The European Central Bank’s new president, Christine Lagarde, has launched a strategic review of monetary policy. This is a welcome initiative. However, some analysts and governing council members are calling for lowering the ECB’s ‘close to, but below 2%’ inflation target. They suggest reducing it, perhaps to 1-2%, or making the target more flexible and achieving it over the longer term. The ECB has long failed to meet its inflation target. These calls could simply be seen as recognising reality. The real objective is to push back against quantitative easing and negative interest rates. Lowering the target or ... (full story)