They are the symptom of an underlying problem, which is insufficient investment demand, across the world, to absorb all the savings available in the economy. It is this phenomenon – the global excess of savings over profitable investments – that is driving interest rates down to very low levels.
And so the right way to address the challenges raised by low rates is not to try and suppress the symptoms, but to address the underlying cause. This requires that we tackle both the long- and short-term drivers of lack of demand, and that we draw for that purpose on both monetary policy and other types of policy.