Chief among the latter is the rising trend of protectionism, evidenced by more restrictive trade policy stances, both actual and intended, in a number of countries, leading in turn to heightened tensions or outright conflict between governments.
[16] Brand, C., Bielecki, M. and Penalver, A. (2018), “The natural rate of interest: estimates, drivers and the challenges to monetary policy”, Occasional Paper Series, No 217, ECB, Frankfurt am Main, December. [17] Altavilla, C., Barbiero, F., Boucinha, M. and Burlon, L. (2020), “The great lockdown: pandemic response policies and bank lending conditions”, Working Paper Series, No 2465, ECB, Frankfurt am Main, September.