In the United States, notwithstanding some recent  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  softer numbers, the economy looks to have pretty reasonable momentum. So it would appear that we are heading in the right direction. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the legacy of the 2008 crisis is yet behind us.
From the vantage point of most central banks, the world could hardly, in some respects, look more unusual. Policy rates in the major advanced jurisdictions have been near zero for six years now. In fact, official deposit rates in the euro area and some other European countries are now negative. As it turns out, the “zero lower bound” wasn’t actually at zero.