To make matters worse, this idea was often combined in central banking circles with the conviction that those authorities with control over income, structural and fiscal policies should be principally responsible for reviving the economy and countering deflation risks.
In both the 1930s and 1970s as well as in the early 2000s in Japan, these counterproductive beliefs led to policy inaction which ultimately resulted in enormous harm being inflicted on their economies. Today’s central banks have learned the lesson from these episodes and do not wait for others to move first. The ECB’s actions reflect this learning.