We are confident that, provided inflation expectations remain broadly consistent with the inflation target, low inflation can be maintained without any ongoing cost in terms of employment or output. Interestingly, a recent paper produced by the IMF4 suggests that inflation-targeting countries as a group have recently improved their rate of economic growth compared to countries which are not inflation-targeters.
The negative consequences considered included, as mentioned in the account of the discussion of the Governing Council in January 2015, “moral hazard implications for euro area governments [which] could weaken their incentives for structural reforms and fiscal consolidation”, as well as 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  possible “financial stability ramifications” and “spillovers from sovereign bond purchases, not only to corporate bond prices, but also into equity prices [which] could trigger the mispricing of risks…”2 Furthermore, throughout the life of the PSPP, there has been an extensive discussion on every aspect of the programme, in the central bank, in the academia and in the public arena.