Some emerging markets, like Brazil, and us, sit at the near end: we are aiming to improve market functioning.5  Recognising this distinction, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has referred to emerging market operations as ‘Bond Purchase Programmes’, or BPPs.6 Others have put the term ‘QE’ in quotation marks, to convey the nuance.
Well, obviously, the European leaders were inspired by the Italian artist Michelangelo, who is quoted as saying: “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Given the apparent failure of this strategy and in the face of an unprecedented crisis, the goals set out in its successor, “Europe 2020”, are somewhat less ambitious: the priorities of “Europe 2020” are “smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”.