The ECB’s Governing Council has unanimously stated that should the need arise, even new monetary-policy instruments will be utilised if the period of low inflation threatens to last too long. As the modes of operation of monetary policy are changing, at least temporarily, research has much to offer to decision-makers.
I will just mention here the three most central areas of research connected with the current situation: The use of anticipatory communication of monetary policy, the so-called forward guidance, as a stabiliser of inflation expectations; the effect on inflation and growth of securities purchases by central banks; and the question of a neutral interest rate level in the postfinancial-crisis world.