There simply is no strong evidence the additional liquidity would be particularly effective in spurring new investment, accelerating consumption, or cushioning or accelerating the deleveraging that is hopefully winding down. If the purported benefits are small, what are the possible costs?
First, without clear terms and goals, quantitative easing becomes an open-ended commitment that leads to maintaining the funds rate too low and the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet too large. The result is a further misallocation of resources, more imbalances and more volatility. There is no working framework that defines how a quantitative easing program would be managed.