There are no discernible macroeconomic benefits that would compensate for the obvious costs of increased inflation – higher risk premia and higher long-term interest rates, to name just two. And we should never forget that low inflation preserves the purchasing power of our most vulnerable and poorer fellow citizens.
The financial crisis has not brought about any change in this fundamental assessment: contrary to the fears of some critics, the non-conventional monetary policy measures taken by the ECB had exactly the desired effect, even in an environment of temporarily negative inflation rates, so that they can now – given the normalisation of the outlook for inflation and the prospect of a general market recovery – be phased-out, step by step.