One concern in the here and now is about the effect of low interest rates on savers and investors. My colleagues and I know that people who rely on investments that pay a fixed interest rate, such as certificates of deposit, are receiving very low returns, a situation that has involved significant hardship for some.
And if that is the case, the ECB’s focus on price stability can be seen from another important angle: It reduces one of the potential problems an aging society is confronted with. 6  See Deutsche Bundesbank (ed): Investing today for the world of tomorrow, 2001.