In this paper we will discuss three alternative (but potentially complementary) monetary strategies for stimulating the economy that do not involve changing the current value of the policy rate.
Specifically, these alternatives involve (1) providing assurance to financial investors that short rates will be lower in the future than they currently expect, (2) changing the relative supplies of securities (such as Treasury notes and bonds) in the marketplace by shifting the composition of the central bank’s balance sheet, and (3) increasing the size of the central bank’s balance sheet beyond the level needed to set the short-term policy rate at zero (“quantitative easing”).